54:  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE.     • 

during  the  next  three  years,  his  chief  occupation  was  the 
study  of  medicine,  the  running  of  errands,  the  compound- 
ing of  drugs,  and  all  such  employments  as  befall  that  jack 
of  all  trades,  a  country  doctor's  boy,  student,  young  man, 
or  whatever  else  bluntness  or  courtesy  may  call  him.  Of 
this  transition  period  of  his  life,  I  know  little  except  that 
he  was  diligently  employed  in  his  vocation;  that  he 
shared  with  characteristic  sympathy  in  the  troubles  (not  a 
few)  of  his  friend  and  preceptor ;  that  he  was  busy  in 
his  observations  upon  nature ;  that  he  frequently  visited 
his  parents  at  Mayslick  ;  and  that  he  corresponded  with 
them  in  terms  of  affectionate  warmth.  Indeed,  his  filial 
piety  was  always  active,  and  down  to  a  much  later  period 
he  anticipated,  as  the  greatest  happiness  of  his  life,  that 
he  should  finally  practice  his  profession  near  his  early 
home,  and  thus  smooth,  by  his  labor  and  attention,  the 
old  age  of  his  parents.  In  a  letter  dated  1804,  he  ex- 
presses this  idea  very  strongly ;  and,  after  acknowledging 
what  he  terms  improprieties  in  his  boyhood,  commends 
himself  to  his  father  by  an  unimpeached  character. 
"  Since  I  have  lived  here,"  said  he  "  I  defy  the  town  to 
impeach  me  with  one  action  derogatory  to  my  honor  or 
reputation."  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  this  estimate 
of  his  own  character ;  for  the  purity  of  his  after  life  reflect- 
ed its  truth,  and  tradition  has  furnished  no  rumor  of 
anything  to  the  contrary.  It  was  not  very  easy  to  stand 
such  a  test  safely;  for  the  dangers  and  temptations  of 
young  men  at  that  time,  were  quite  as  great  as  they  are 
now  in  the  largest  cities.  Fort  Washington  was  garrison- 
ed by  gay  officers  and  loose  soldiers.  The  village  around 
it  was  filled  with  as  gay  society,  though  not  wanting  in 
some  persons  of  serious  and  religious  deportment.  The 
tone  of  society  was  military,  and  the  garrison  which  gave 


SOCIETY  OF  CINCINNATI   IN   EIGHTEEN  HUNDRED.      55 

that  tone  was  (as,  indeed  was  the  whole  army  immedi- 
ately after  the  Revolution )  rather  distinguished  for  the 
vices  of  gambling  and  intemperance.  Judge  Burnet, 
who  was  then  a  lawyer  at  the  bar,  mentions  General 
Harrison,  (then  a  lieutenant,)  and  one  other,  as  the  only 
officers  he  knew  who  did  not  end  their  life  by  intemper- 
ance. Of  gambling  he  spoke  as  a  common  practice  at 
the  garrison.  There,  surrounded  with  men  of  all  ages, 
from  the  young  subaltern  to  the  grey-haired  veteran  and 
respectable  citizen,  nearly  all  of  whom  thought  it  a  light 
matter  to  engage  in  these  fashionable  vices,  he  was 
neither  seduced  by  their  authority  or  example.  It  was, 
perhaps,  from  his  early  observation  on.  these  vices,  that  he 
remained  to  the  end  of  life  not  only  abstinent  from  them 
but  hostile,  looking  with  contempt  upon  their  followers 
and  with  abhorrence  on  their  effects. 

His  association  with  Drs..Goforth,  Allison,  and  others, 
threw  him  into  the  best  society  of  the  place  and  times, 
of  which  he  had  the  taste  and  judgment  to  avail  himself. 
As  these  social  connections  had  great  influence  on  his 
after  life,  I  shall  name  some  of  those  who  were  then  in 
the  front  ranks  of  the  pioneers.  Of  these  were  Judge 
Symmes,  the  patentee  and  proprietor  of  the  Miami  valley ; 
Lieutenant  (afterwards  General  and  President)  Harri- 
son, who  had  married  the  daughter  of  Judge  Symmes  ; 
Mr.  (afterwards  General)  Findley,  Receiver  of  Public 
Moneys ;  General  Gano,  long  Clerk  of  the  Courts  ;  Mr. 
(afterwards  Judge)  Burnet;  Arthur  St.  Clair,  Ethan 
Stone,  Nicholas  Longworth,  &c.,  members  of  the  bar ;  Drs. 
Goforth,  Allison,  Burnet,  Sellmann,  physicians  ;  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  Wallace  and  Kemper,  Presbyterian  clergymen  ; 
Colonel  John  S.  Wallace,  Major  Zeigler ;  Messrs.  Baum, 
Dugan,"  Stanley,  the  Hunts,  Wade,  Kilgour,  Spencer, 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

GIFT  OF 

Mrs*  Edwin  Grabhorn 


MEMOIRS 

- 

OP    THE 

LIFE  AND  SERVICES 

OP 


DANIEL  DRAKE,  M.D. 

PHYSICIAN,  PROFESSOR,  AND  AUTHOR; 


ias  of  t|t  $arlg  Sitttart  of  Cramroti. 


AND 


SOME  OF  ITS  PIONEER  CITIZENS, 


BY   EDWARD   D.   MANSFIELD,   LL.D., 

AUTHOR  OP  "AMERICAN  EDUCATION,"  &c. 


Cincinnati: 

PUBLISHED   BY  APPLEGATE    &   CO., 

No.   43   MAIN   STREET, 

1860. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1855, 

BY  EDWARD  D.  MANSFIELD, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
Southern  District  of  Ohio. 


PREFACE. 


THE  volume  now  introduced  to  the  public  was  prepared  mainly 
as  a  labor  of  love,  but  not  without  the  hope  of  contributing  some- 
thing to  the  common  stock  of  information,  and  something  to  the 
common  instruction,  by  setting  forth  the  example  of  a  man,  who, 
possessing  genius,  virtue,  and  science,  used  them  for  the  most 
worthy  ends. 

The  object  of  the  memoirs  was  two-fold:  first,  to  trace  the  career 
of  Dr.  Drake  as  a  simple  narrative  of  his  life  and  services ;  and, 
secondly,  to  connect  with  it  a  notice  of  such  persons  and  events  as 
were  naturally  associated  with  him.  The  reader  will  perceive 
that  there  is  no  labored  attempt  at  style,  or  philosophical  analysis, 
or  portrait  painting.  These  did  not  suit  my  plan,  nor  had  I  the 
taste  or  time  for  such  work.  I  intended,  and  hope  I  have  accom- 
plished, a  plain  narration  of  the  works  and  character  of  an  emi- 
nent man,  with  whom  was  connected  an  interesting  portion  of  our 
history. 

Two  or  three  omissions  may  possibly  be  observed,  for  which 
there  are  sufficient  reasons.  It  may  be  seen  that  little  or  nothing 
is  said  of  several  heated  medical  controversies  in  which  Dr.  Drake 
was  engaged.  For  this,  it  is  sufficient  to  say,  that  the  personal 
feeling  excited  by  them  has  passed  away,  and  it  would  be  an  ill 
office  to  revive  it.  With  Dr.  Drake  himself,  they  were  passed 
into  oblivion  before  his  death,  and  his  enemies,  if  any,  remained 
forgiven. 

iii 


IV  PREFACE. 

It  may  also  be  thought,  that  while  I  have  mentioned  several 
persons  in  the  course  of  the  narrative,  I  ought  to  have  spoken  of 
others.  To  this  I  reply,  that  I  have  noticed  no  one  who  did  not 
come  within  the  direct  associations  of  the  narrative.  Had  I  done 
more  of  this,  I  must  have  written  the  history  of  the  whole. 

Other  omissions  may  be  discovered,  and  doubtless  defects  which 
have  been  overlooked,  and  for  all  of  them,  I  can  only  say,  that  I 
aimed  to  be  faithful  to  my  subject,  to  truth,  and  history.  If  I 
have  fallen  short,  none  will  regret  it  more  than  I. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  work,  there  were  several  sources  of 
information  which  I  should  acknowledge.  First.  A  large  mass 
of  private  letters,  part  furnished  me  by  the  family  of  Dr.  Drake, 
and  a  part  in  my  own  possession.  Second.  The  testimony  and 
conversation  of  several  cotemporaries.  Third.  My  own  knowl- 
edge and  observation,  furnished  by  nearly  thirty  years  of  inti- 
mate friendship.  Fourth.  The  works  and  writings  of  Dr.  Drake. 
Fifth.  The  able  and  faithful  discourse  of  Dr.  Gross,  from  which 
I  have  drawn  largely  for  professional  testimony.  Sixth.  The 
cotemporary  documents  and  history  of  the  times. 

This  large  mass  of  material  I  have  examined,  analyzed,  and 
extracted  from,  with  as  much  of  care  and  fidelity  as  I  possessed. 
The  work  is  done,  and  whatever  may  be  the  opinions  of  the  public, 
I  at  least  will  be  satisfied.  I  have  performed  what  I  thought  a 
duty  to  my  friends,  and  to  the  history  of  the  times.  To  have 
done  it,  is  a  satisfaction,  and  I  commit  it  unconcerned  to  the 
tribunal  of  Public  Opinion. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  DATA. 


DOCTOR  DRAKE  was  born October  20,  1785. 

Ohio  was  settled April,  1787. 

Drake's  father  and  family  arrived  at  Maysville,  Ky May,  1787. 

Cincinnati  was  founded December,  1788. 

Dr.  Drake  arrived  at  Cincinnati 1800. 

"        "      Is  married December  20, 1807. 

"         "      Publishes  "  Notices  of  Cincinnati  " 1809. 

"        "       "  Picture  of  Cincinnati," ...1815. 

"        "      Graduates  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 1816. 

"        "      Elected  Professor  in  Transylvania  University 1817. 

tt  «  Procures  the  Incorporation  of  Cincinnati  College, 
Ohio  Medical  College,  and  the  Commercial 
Hospital ....1819. 

"        "      Is  again  elected  Professor  in  Transylvania 1824. 

Mrs.  Drake  dies 1825. 

Dr.  Drake  returns  to  Cincinnati 1827. 

"         "      Founds  the  Eye  Infirmary 1828. 

"        "       Publishes  Treaties  on  Cholera 1832. 

"        "      Initiates  the  Cincinnati   and  Charleston   Rail 

Eoad 1835. 

"        "      Revives  Cincinnati  College 1835. 

"        "      Is  elected  Professor  in  the  Louisville  Medical 

Institute 1840. 

"  "  Is  re-elected  Professor  in  the  Ohio  Medical  Col- 
lege   1850. 

"        "      Returns  to  Louisville 1851. 

"  "  .Publishes  his  "  Systematic  Treatise  on  the  Dis- 
eases of  the  Interior  Valley  " 1852. 

"        "      Is  re-elected  to  Ohio  Medical  College 1852. 

"      Dies November,  1852. 


CONTENTS. 


.CO; lh     ba&.+Ji 

CHAPTER    I. 

PAGE. 

1785— 1800— The  Pioneers— Birth  and  Parentage  of  Daniel 
Drake— Rural  Life  among  the  Pioneers — Snow  in  the  Woods 
— Indian  Alarms — The  Blue  Licks — Corn-husking — Farmer's 
Boy  —  Coloring  —  Sheep-shearing  —  Carding  —  Spinning — 
School  of  Nature — School-house  in  the  Woods — Autumn 
Changes — School-masters — Boys  Learning — Rule  of  Three — 
Influence  of  Parents — Drake  ends  Schooling 11 


CHAPTER  II. 

1800 — 1806 — Choice  of  a  Profession — Goes  to  Cincinnati  to 
Study  Medicine— Cincinnati  in  1800— Sketch  of  Dr.  Goforth, 
his  Professor — His  Medical  Education — Enters  upon  the  Prac- 
tice— Goes  to  Philadelphia  to  attend  Lectures  in  the  University 
• — His  Manner  of  Study — Returns  to  Cincinnati 44 


CHAPTER   III. 

1806— 1810— Practices  Medicine  at  Mayslick— Returns  to  Cin- 
cinnati—Society there — Debating  Club— Marriage — Scientific 
Pursuits — Publishes  Notices  of  Cincinnati — Pictures  of  Cin- 
cinnati— Earthquakes 70 


CHAPTER    IV. 

1810  to  1815— His  sickness— Loses  his  Child— Religious  Feel- 
ings—Medical Practice— War  of  1812— Surrender  of  Hull- 
Public  Opinion — Death  of  his  friend  John  Mansfield — Enters 
upon  Commercial  Business — Is  Interested  in  the  Lancaster 

Seminary — Publishes  the  Pictures  of  Cincinnati. 89 

vii 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   V. 

TAG*. 

1815—1818 — His  Literary  Difficulties — Method  of  Study  and 
Writing — Goes  a  second  time  to  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania— "Wistar  Parties — -Graduates — Has  an  extensive  Practice 
—Enters  into  Commercial  Speculations — Is  attacked  with 
Dyspepsia — Mode  of  Treatment — Is  appointed  Professor  in 
Lexington  Medical  School — Literary  Labors — Resigns  and 
returns  to  Cincinnati 109 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1818 — 1822 — Cincinnati  in  1818 — Foundation  of  its  Literary 
Institutions — Commencement  of  its  Steamboat  Trade  and 
Iron  Manufactures  —  Judge  Burnet  —  Martin  Baum  —  Ethan 
Stone — Dr.  Drake  founds  the  Medical  College  and  Hospital 
— His  Controversies — Is  Dismissed  from  the  College,  and 
Contemplates  Removal 130 


CHAPTER  VII. 

1822 — 1825 — Dr.  Drake  accepts  a  Professorship  in  Transyl- 
vania University — Its  Condition  and  Prospects — Its  Profes- 
sors— Dr.  Drake's  Success — Downfall  of  the  Literary  Depart- 
ment— Mr.  Holley — Politics  of  the  Day — Dr.  Drake  supports 
Mr.  Clay  for  the  Presidency — Writes  "  76  "  Letter  on  Clay's 
Vote — Interview  at  Lebanon  with  Clay  and  Clinton — Charac- 
teristics of  Clay,  Clinton,  Adams,  and  Calhoun — Dr.  Drake 
Journeys  in  the  Miami  Valley — Death  of  Mrs.  Drake — Anni- 
versary Hymn  to  her  Memory 155 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Dr.  Drake  returns  to  Lexington — Condition  of  the  School — His 
Practice — Resigns — Establishes  the  Western  Journal  of  Medi- 
cal Sciences — History  of  Medical  Journals — Establishes  the 
Eye  Infirmary — Announces  his  "Work  on  the  Diseases  of  the 
Interior  Valley — Views  of  Medical  Education— Review  of 
the  "People's  Doctors  " — Lectures  on  Temperance— Incidents 
~~ Medical  Jurisprudence — Case  of  John  Birdsall 182 


CONTENTS.  fo 

CHAPTER    IX. 

PAGE. 

1831  —  1834  —  Dr.  Drake  accepts  a  Professorship  in  the  Jeffer- 
son School,  Philadelphia  —  Forms  the  plan  of  another  Medical 
School  at  Cincinnati  —  Medical  Department  of  Miami  Univer- 
sity —  Cholera  —  Dr.  Drake's  Views  —  Its  appearance  at  Cincin- 
nati—Tables of  the  Cholera  at  Cincinnati  —  Its  Characteristics 
—  Is  Cholera  Morbus  Epidemic  ?  .  .  .  .  .......................  205 


CHAPTER    X. 

1833—  1835—  Vine  Street  Reunions—  Literary  Society  of  Cincin- 
nati —  Distinguished  Persons  —  Social  Influence  on  Literature 
—  Buckeye  Emblems  —  College  of  Teachers  —  Leading  Charac- 
ters —  Grimke  —  Kinmont  —  Albert  Pickett  —  Joshua  L.  Wilson  — 
Perkins  —  Dr.  Drake  on  Discipline  —  On  Anatomy  and  Physio- 
logy —  On  Emulation  —  On  the  Powers  of  Government  in  rela- 
tion to  Schools  ..............................  .  ............  223 


CI1APER    XI. 

Dr.  Drake's  Services  for  Internal  Improvement — His  Views  of 
Ohio  Canaling  in  the  "  Picture  of  Cincinnati " — Takes  the 
Initial  in  the  Cincinnati  and  Charleston  Railway — Meeting 
at  the  Exchange — Article  in  the  Western  Monthly  Magazine — 
Population  and  Business  of  Cincinnati  in  1836 — Cincinnati 
Committee  of  Internal  Improvement — Knoxville  Convention — 
Traveling  on  the  Tennessee  River— Dr.  Drake  on  Traveling — 
Colonel  Blanding — General  Hayne — Public  Citizens  of  Cin- 
cinnati  247 


CHAPTER    XII. 

Attempted  Reform  of  the  Ohio  Medical  College — Revival  of 
Cincinnati  College — Reorganization — Medical  Faculty — Law 
Faculty — College  Faculty — Progress  of  the  Institution — Dr. 
Drake  as  a  Lecturer  and  Teacher — Dissolution  of  the  Medical 
Department — Cincinnati  Chronicle — Faculty  of  the  Arts  in 
Cincinnati  College— Charles  L.  Telford,  Esq.— Benjamin  Drake, 
Esq. — His  Death  and  Character — Western  Monthly  Review — 
Judge  Hall — Hiram  Powers 270 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

PAGE. 

1840— 1850— Plan  of  Dr.  Drake's  Work  on  the  Diseases  of  the 
Interior  Valley  of  North  America — His  successive  Journeys 
— His  Methods  of  Treatment — Analysis  of  the  Work — Topo- 
graphical and  Meteorological  Description — Social  Habits — 
Diseases 309 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

1840— 1850— Meeting  of  the  Pioneers— Dr.  Drake  on  the  Buck- 
eye Emblem — Discussion  of  Problems — Milk- Sickness — Mes- 
meric Somniloquism — Condition  of  the  Africans  in  the 
United  States — Northern  Lakes  and  Southern  Invalids — 
Unpublished  Poetry — Extracts  from  the  Systematic  Descrip- 
tion of  the  Diseases  of  the  Interior  Valley 322 


CHAPTER   XV. 

Reminiscential  Letters  of  Dr.  Drake  to  his  Children— His  Ances- 
tors—His Childhood — Journey  to  Kentucky — Memories  of  Ma- 
son County — The  first  Log-cabin — The  Indians — Want  of 
Bread — Indian  Attack — First  School-house — Incidents  in 
Pioneer  Life 256 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

Dr.  Drake's   Religious  Life — Religious  Writings — Character — 
Professional  Objects — Family — Last  sickness — Death 388 


'  \' . «.4G*/ ix      m& iH '•?  o  artu  t  J : 

THE 

LIFE  OF  DR.  DANIEL  DRAKE. 


CHAPTER!, 

1785— 1800— The  Pioneers— Birth  and  Parentage  of  Daniel 
Drake — Rural  Life  among  the  Pioneers — Snow  in  the  Woods 
— Indian  Alarms — The  Blue  Licks — Corn-husking — Farmer's 
Boy — Coloring — Sheep-shearing — Carding —  Spinning —  School 
of  Nature — School-house  in  the  "Woods — Autumn  Changes — 
School-masters — Boys  Learning — Rule  of  Three — Influence  of 
Parents — Drake  ends  Schooling. 

THE  settlement  of  the  Ohio  Valley  was  attended  by 
many  circumstances  which  gave  it  peculiar  interest.  Its 
beginning  was  the  first  fruit  of  the  Ee volution.  Its  growth 
has  been  more  rapid  than  that  of  any  modern  colony. 
In  a  period  of  little  more  than  half  a  century,  its  strength 
and  magnitude  exceed  the  limits  of  many  distinguished 
nations.  Such  results  have  not  been  produced  without 
efficient  causes.  It  is  not  enough  to  account  for  them  by 
referring  to  a  mild  climate,  fertile  soil,  flowing  rivers, 
or  even  good  government.  These  are  important.  But 
a  more  direct  one  is  found  in  the  character  and  labors  of 
its  early  citizens ;  for  in  Man,  at  last,  consists  the  life 
and  glory  of  every  State. 

This  is  strikingly  true  of  the  States  and  Institutions 
which  have  gone  up  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio.  The 
first  settlers  had  no  such  doubtful  origin  as  the  fabled 

11 


12  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

Romulus,  and  imbibed  no  such  savage  spirit  as  he 
received  from  the  sucklings  of  a  wolf.  They  were 
civilized — derived  from  a  race  historically  bold  and 
energetic — had  generally  received  an  elementary,  and 
in  some  instances  a  superior,  education ;  and  were  bred 
to  free  thoughts  and  brave  actions  in  the  great  and 
memorable  school  of  the  American  Revolution.  If  not 
actors,  they  were  the  children  of  those  who  were  actors 
in  its  dangers  and  sufferings.  These  settlers  came  to  a 
country  magnificent  in  extent,  and  opulent  in  all  the 
wealth  of  nature.  But  it  was  nature  in  her  rugged- 
ness.  All  was  wild  and  savage.  The  wilderness  before 
them  presented  only  a  field  of  battle  or  of  labor.  The 
Indian  must  be  subdued,  the  mighty  forest  leveled, 
the  soil  in  its  wide  extent  upturned,  and  from  every 
quarter  of  the  globe  must  be  transplanted  the  seeds, 
the  plants,  and  all  the  contrivances  of  life,  which,  in 
other  lands,  had  required  ages  to  obtain.  In  the  midst 
of  these  physical  necessities,  and  of  that  progress  which 
consists  in  conquest  and  culture,  there  were  other  and 
higher  works  to  be  performed.  Social  institutions  must 
be  founded  :  laws  must  be  adapted  to  the  new  society : 

*•  1/5 

schools  established,  churches  built  up,  science  cultivated, 
and,  as  the  structure  of  the  State  arose  upon  these 
solid  columns,  it  must  receive  the  finish  of  the  fine  arts, 
and  the  polish  of  letters.  The  largest  part  of  this  mighty 
fabric  was  the  work  of  the  first  settlers  on  the  Ohio — a 
work  accomplished  within  the  period  of  time  allotted 
by  Providence  to  the  life  of  man.  If,  in  after  ages, 
history  shall  seek  a  suitable  acknowledgment  of  their 
merits,  it  will  be  found  in  the  simple  record,  that  their 
characters  and  labors  were  equal  to  the  task  they  had 
to  perform.  Their's  was  a  noble  work,  nobly  done. 


'.M*  THE  PIONEERS.  13 

It  is  true,  that  the  lives  of,  these  men  were  attended 
by  all  the  common  motives  and  common  passions  of 
human  nature;  but  these  motives  and  passions  were 
ennobled  by  the  greatness  of  the  result ;  and  even  com- 
mon pursuits  rendered  interesting,  by  the  air  of  wildness 
and  adventure  which  is  found  in  all  the  paths  of  the 
pioneer.  There  were  among  them,  too,  men  of  great 
strength  of  intellect,  of  acute  powers,  and  of  a  fresh- 
ness and  originality  of  genius,  which  we  seek  in  vain 
among  the  members  of  conventional  society. 

These  men  were  as  varied  in  their  characters  and 
pursuits  as  the  parts  they  had  to  perform  in  the  great 
action  before  them.  Some  were  soldiers  in  the  long 
battle  against  the  Indians;  some  were  huntsmen,  like 
BOONE  and  KENTON,  thirsting  for  forest  adventures; 
some  were  plain  farmers,  who  came  with  wives  and 
children,  sharing  fully  in  their  toils  and  dangers ;  some 
lawyers  and  jurists,  who  early  participated  in  council 
and  legislation;  and  with  them  all,  the  doctor,  the 
clergyman,  and  even  the  school -master,  was  found  in 
the  earliest  settlements.  In  a  few  years,  others  came, 
whose  names  will  long  be  remembered  in  any  true 
account,  (if  any  such  shall  ever  be  written,)  of  the 
science  and  literature  of  America.  They  gave  to  the 
strong  but  rude  body  of  society  here  its  earliest  culture, 
in  a  higher  knowledge  and  purer  spirit.  Of  this  class  was 
DOCTOR  DRAKE.  He  saw  the  gloom  and  solitude  of 
the  wilderness  in  early  youth;  but  saw  them  disap- 
pear in  the  warmth  of  advancing  society,  before  age 
had  dimmed  his  sight.  He  was  one  of  the  builders 
of  that  society,  but  while  of  it  in  all  its  labors,  duties, 
and  sympathies,  was  above  it,  in  the  brilliancy  of  his 
genius,  and  the  extent  of  his  views.  To  trace  his  life, 


14  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

is  to  trace,  in  no  small  degree,  the  growth  and  outline 
of  the  community  in  which  he  lived.  I  have  under- 
taken it,  therefore,  as  a  contribution  to  the  history  of  the 
living  times,  not  less  than  a  memorial  to  worth  and 
friendship  which  well  deserved  my  utmost  tribute. 
With  much  of  his  actual  life  I  was  familiar ;  of  more, 
I  heard ;  and  of  all,  I  have  the  testimony  of  the  living 
and  the  dead.  If  the  portrait  I  draw  be  not  complete 
or  just,  it  will  fail  from  no  want  of  material  or  distinct- 
ness of  feature ;  but  only  because  the  rnind,  which  was 
willing,  and  the  hand  which  undertook,  were  unequal 
to  their  task. 

DANIEL  DRAKE  was  born  at  Plainfield,  Essex  County, 
New  Jersey,  October  20,  1785.  The  rural  districts  of 
New  Jersey  were  then,  as  now,  settled  by  a  people  plain, 
simple-minded,  and  intelligent — generally  pious,  always 
patriotic,  and  never  very  rich.  They  had  the  advantage 
of  an  early  ministry  of  the  most  devoted  and  self-deny- 
ing clergy ;  and  the  equal  advantage,  in  a  political  sense, 
of  being  within  the  sight  and  hearing  of  those  great 
events  of  the  Revolution,  which  are  now  stereotyped 
in  the  history  of  constitutional  freedom.  Amidst  such 
a  people,  and  partaking  fully  of  their  characteristics, 
were  the  parents  of  Dr.  Drake  reared.  I  knew  them 
in  their  declining  years,  when  they  still  exhibited  the 
same  features  $f  piety,  simplicity,  kindness,  and  patri- 
otism. They  left  New  Jersey,  when  their  son  was  two 
and  a  half  years  old,  just  when  this  State  was  first  set- 
tled, at  Marietta,  and  before  a  solitary  cabin  had  risen 
on  the  site  of  Cincinnati.  The  life  of  Dr.  Drake  in  the 
west  covered,  therefore,  the  period  from  1788  to  1852, 
which  includes  the  whole  history  of  Ohio,  and  the  whole 
growth  of  Cincinnati.  Much  of  that  history  and  growth 


PARENTAGE  OF  DANIEL  DBAKE.  15 

is  intimately  connected  with  his  own,  and  while  we 
pursue  the  path  of  an  individual,  we  shall  be  insensi- 
bly led  to  contemplate  the  progress  of  a  great  com- 
munity. 

The  colony  to  'which  Mr.  Drake  the  elder  was  attached, 
made  their  settlement  at  Mayslick,  (Kentucky,)  twelve 
miles  southwest  of  the  present  Maysville.  They  settled 
in  the  midst  of  the  forest,  and  their  first  occupation  was 
that  of  all  the  pioneers — to  cut  down  the  trees,  to  fence 
the  fields,  and  to  plant  and  cultivate  the  soil.  This 
had  to  be  done  amidst  dangers,  both  from  men  and 
beasts,  for  it  was  yet  six  years  before  Wayne's  victory 
restored  peace  to  the  west,  and  Kentucky  was  yet  the 
battle-ground  of  the  Indian  tribes.  No  evil  from  that 
quarter,  however,  befell  them.  They  pursued  their  rural 
occupation  in  a  hard  but  peaceful  life. 

Mr.  Drake  was  poor,  and  when  he  landed  at  Maysville 
had  but  one  dollar  left — which  was  then  the  price  of  a 
bushel  of  corn.  The  first  residence  of  the  family  was  in 
a  "  covered  pen,"  built  for  sheep,  on  the  ground  of  its 
owner.  The  smallness  of  his  estate  may  be  gathered  from 
the  fact,  that  when  a  company  of  emigrants — five  fami- 
lies— purchased  a  tract  of  fourteen  hundred  acres  of  land, 
to  be  divided  between  them,  according  to  their  respective 
payments,  his  share  was  only  thirty-eight  acres,  which  he 
subsequently  increased  to  fifty.  There  he  resided  six 
years,  till  in  the  autumn  of  1794,  he  purchased  another 
farm  of  two  hundred  acres,  to  the  neighborhood  of  which 
he  removed.  The  new  farm  was  an  unbroken  forest  which 
had  to  be  cleared,  and  the  log  cabin  built.  Daniel  Drake 
was  then  nine  years  old.  His  father  being  too  poor  to 
hire  a  laborer,  and  not  strong  of  body,  the  young  boy  was 
put  to  work,  and  for  the  next  six  years  was  constantly 


16  tlFE   OF  DK,   DANIEL  DEAKE. 

employed  in  the  various  labors  of  that  rugged  rural 
life. 

The  fifteen  years  from  his  birth  at  Plainfield  to  his  re- 
moval to  Cincinnati,  was,  as  it  is  in  all  persons,  the  form- 
ing period  of  his  mind ;  the  period,  not  so  much  of 
information,  which  is  then  scarcely  begun,  but  of  im- 
pressions, natural,  social,  and  moral.  These  impressions 
are  early  received,  but  are  durable  and  powerful,  cling- 
ing to  the  structure  of  the  mind,  with  inseparable  fibers, 
and  associated  with  scenes  never  to  be  forgotten.  With 
him,  they  produced  an  effect  upon  his  character  very 
unusual,  and  indeed  extraordinary.  He  looked  upon 
all  the  elements  and  incidents  of  his  early  life  in  the 
the  woods,  with  the  fancy  of  a  painter,  and  the  emotions 
of  a  poet.  They  were  imbedded  in  his  very  being,  and 
graved  upon  his  soul  forever.  Hence,  it  is  necessary  I 
should  trace  this  part  of  his  life  with  distinctness,  in  or- 
der to  exhibit  the  early  training  and  tendencies  which 
gave  direction  and  strength,  in  after  years,  to  the  bent  of 
his  genius,  and  the  fervor  of  his  enthusiasm. 

His  early  education  was  in  the  forest,  amidst  the  un- 
changed elements  of  nature,  the  simplicity  of  inartificial 
society,  and  the  labors  of  a  husbandman.  He  was  lite- 
rally a  farmer's  boy,  performing  the  simplest  and  rudest 
duties  of  that  vocation.  So  strongly  and  so  poetically  did 
it  impress  itself  upon  him,  that  at  the  distance  of  half  a 
century,  (in  1845,)  he  described  them  most  minutely  and 
beautifully  in  letters  to  his  children.  Some  passages  from 
these  letters  will  best  illustrate  not  merely  his  life,  but  the 
poetic  vein  which  ran  through  his  nature,  and  the  graphic 
powers  of  description  which  he  possessed  as  a  writer. 
About  this  period,  when  he  was  nine  years  old,  his  father 
had  removed  to  the  new  farm  where  everything  was  new, 


,  /  '.»... 

RURAL   LIFE   AMONG   THE   PIONEERS.  17 

and  everything  had  to  be  done.  He  thus  describes  this 
cabin-farm,  and  some  of  its  incidents.*  "  Father's  cabin 
stood  on  a  side  hill,  and  was  not  underpinned.  The  lower 
end  was  three  feet  from  the  ground,  and  here  was  the  win- 
ter shelter  of  the  sheep,  furnishing  security  from  both 
wolves  and  weather ;  still,  although  there  was  protection 
from  rain  and  snow,  the  cold  wind  was  not  excluded,  and 
it  often  became  necessary  to  bring  the  young  lambs  into  the 
cabin  above,  and  let  them  spend  the  night  near  the  fire. 
Tbe  exercise  of  this  kind  of  office  towards  the  young  and 
suffering  innocents  was,  perhaps,  one  cause  of  my  repug- 
nance to  eating  their  flesh  for  many  years  afterwards. 
Sometimes  they  would  leave  their  dams,  and  then  it 
would  become  necessary  to  feed  them  on  cow's  milk ;  a 
labor  which  generally  fell  to  me,  and  I  used  to  hold  their 
mouths  in  the  buckeye  bowl,  till  they  learned  how  to 
drink. 

"  In  the  latter  part  of  winter  we  were  often  short  of  fod- 
der for  our  stock,  and  had  to  resort  to  the  woods  for  both 
cattle  and  horses  to  browse.  Of  the  whole  forest,  the  red 
and  slippery  elms  were  the  best — next  to  these,  the  white 
elm,  and  then  the  pig-nut,  or  white  hickory.  It  was  then 
that  I  first  observed  that  the  buds  of  these  and  other  trees 
grow  and  swell  during  the  winter,  a  fact  which  interested 
me  much,  and  ten  years  afterwards,  (when  he  was  nine- 
teen,) when  Darwin's  Botanic  Garden  fell  into  my  hands, 
I  took  the  deepest  interest  in  that  part  of  the  poem,  which 
is  entitled  '  economy  of  vegetation.'  Two  lines,  which 
now  come  to  my  recollection,  seemed  to  me  the  very  soul 
of  poetry.  They  are — 

"  *  Where  dwell  my  vegetable  realms  benumbed, 
In  buds  imprisoned,  or  in  bulbs  entombed.'  " 

*  Letter  from  Louisville,  December  31,  1847. 
2 


18  UFE   OF   DK.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

Simple  as  this  reminiscence  is  in  its  details,  we  find  in 
it  an  outline  of  his  leading  characteristics.  Here  is  the 
closeness  of  observation  so  unusual  in  boys,  the  humane 
tenderness  manifested  towards  the  lambs,  the  attention  to 
natural  phenomena,  and  the  patient  labor ;  all  of  which 
were  strongly  developed  in  his  after  life.  Even  the  buck- 
eye bowl,  a  prominent  object  in  the  scene,  at  once  reminds 
one  of  a  recent  and  active  period  of  his  life,  when  the 
buckeye  was  his  favorite  emblem,  and  the  buckeye  lowl 
upon  his  table. 

He  continues,  describing  himself  and  impressions  of 
a  winter  scene  in  the  woods : 

"  To  my  cow  boy  labors,  when  twelve  or  thirteen  years 
of  age,  for  hours  together  in  the  woods  around  our  little 
field,  in  the  month  of  February,  I  ascribe,  in  part,  my 
admiration  of  that  poem  (Darwin's).  It  still  awakes  in  me 
delightful  romantic  recollections  of  that  distant  period. 
My  equipments  were  a  substantial  suit  of  butternut  linsey, 
a  wool  hat,  a  pair  of  mittens,  and  a  pair  of  old  stocking- 
legs,  drawn  down  like  gaiters  over  my  shoes,  to  keep  out 
the  snow,  which  was  quite  as  deep  in  those  days  as  in 
latter  times,  and  a  great  deal  prettier.  (Do  not  smile  till 
you  hear  me  out.)  I  do  not  mean  that  the  separate 
flakes  were  more  beautiful  then  than  at  present,  but  that 
a  snow  was,  in  the  woods  of  those  days,  far  more  pictu- 
resque than  a  snow  in  or  around  a  town  as  we  see  it  now. 

"  The  woods  immediately  beyond  our  field  were  unmu- 
tilated,  and  not  thinned  out,  as  you  see  them  at  present. 
They  were  in  fact  as  nature  received  them  from  the  hand 
of  her  creator.  When  a  snow  had  fallen  without  wind, 
the  upper  surface  of  every  bough  bent  gracefully  under 
its  weight  and  contrasted  beautifully  with  the  dark  and 
rugged  bark  beneath;  the  half  decayed  logs  had  their 


ym    •  y: 

SNOW   IN  THE  WOODS.  19 

deformities  covered :  the  ground  was  overflowed  with  a 
pure  and  white  covering.  The  cane  as  high  as  my 
head  and  shoulders,  with  its  long  green  leaves,  made 
the  alto  relievo  of  the  snowy  carpet ;  the  winter  grapes 
hung  in  what  then  seemed  rich  clusters  from  the  limbs 
of  many  trees ;  which  were  decorated  with  tufts  of  green 
misletoe,  embellished  with  berries,  as  white  as  pearl; 
while  the  celastrous  scandens,  a  climbing  vine,  hung 
out  from  others  its  bunches  of  orange  red  berries ;  and 
the  Indian  arrow  wood  below,  displayed  its  scarlet  seeds 
suspended  by  threads  of  the  same  color.  With  axes  on 
our  shoulders,  father  and  I  (sometimes  one  only,)  were 
often  seen  driving  the  cattle  before  us  to  the  nearest 
woods ;  and  when  the  first  tree  fell  the  browsing  com- 
menced. As  the  slippery  elm  was  soft  and  mucila- 
ginous, twigs  of  -considerable  size  were  eaten,  and  the 
bark  of  larger  ones  stripped.  Other  trees  being  chopped 
down,  we  occupied  ourselves,  more  or  less,  in  cutting  wood 
for  fuel  and  timber  for  rails.  But  the  time  required  for 
browsing  was  not  always  devoted  to  work,  for  the  tracks 
of  coons  had  attractions  especially  for  myself  and  old 
Lyon,  and  I  often  had  opportunities  for  gratifying  the 
instinct  of  both  man  and  dog  for  hunting." 

Who,  that  has  ever  been  a  boy  in  the  woods  of  Ohio, 
does  not  recognize  the  accuracy  of  this  picture  ?  This  por- 
trait he  drew  at  the  distance  of  half  a  century,  with  all  the 
skill  of  such  an  experience,  but  the  colors  were  drawn 
from  the  memories  of  boyhood.  He  was  entirely  right  in 
attributing  to  his  "  cow  boy  labors,"  as  he  called  them, 
not  only  his  admiration  for  Darwin,  but  his  enthusiastic 
love  of  nature.  This  picture  of  his  boyhood,  in  the 
wilds  of  Kentucky,  was  a  fairy  vesture,  which,  in 
after  life,  seemed  thrown  round  every  natural  object.  I 


20  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

have  traveled  by  his  side  in  the  valley  of  the  Miamies, 
on  the  ridges  of  Kentucky,  and  the  mountains  of  Tennes- 
see ;  and  marked  with  surprise  how  each  tree  seemed 
familiar  to  him,  how  he  watched  every  scene,  how  he 
described  them  with  the  knowledge  of  a  naturalist,  and 
invested  them  with  the  coloring  of  a  poet. 

It  is  evident  from  all  this,  that  he  was  naturally  gifted 
with  remarkably  keen  powers  of  observation,  accom- 
panied by  a  poetic  temperament.  These  were  manifested 
during  his  whole  life.  Unrealizing,  perhaps,  his  own 
natural  gifts  in  this  way,  he  often  attributed  them  to  a 
country  life.  But  they  were  really  gifts.  It  is  in  vain 
to  seek  them  among  common  country  boys.  They  may 
see  and  enjoy  all  these  things;  but  their  souls  do  not 
take  them  in  and  make  them,  as  he  did,  a  part  of  their 
very  being.  Thousands  of  country  boys  hear  the  music 
of  the  woods,  and  look  upon  their  changing  clouds,  and 
share  in  the  rural  employments,  and  think  not  of  them. 
But  this  forest  boy  made  them  his  own ;  he  was  not  their 
subject  so  much  as  they  his ;  they  were  the  attendant 
spirits  of  his  dreams,  and  in  many  an  after  year  he  bore 
them  aloft  in  the  soaring  flights  of  imagination. 

Alone,  amidst  outspreading  trees,  we  see  this  boy 
watching  the  gambols  of  a  squirrel,  wondering  at  the 
buds  swelling  in  winter,  delighted  with  the  graceful 
garments  with  which  the  snow  has  clothed  the  trees,  lis- 
tening to  the  wild  notes  of  birds,  or  the  tinkling  bell 
of  cows,  or  the  notes  of  the  rising  wind.  "  The  birds," 
he  afterwards  said,  "made  a  symphony  to  the  winds  as 
they  played  upon  the  green  leaves,  and  wakened  melody 
as  when  the  rays  of  the  sun  fell  upon  the  Harp  of  Mem- 
non,  but  more  real  and  better  for  the  young  heart/7 

At  this  time  he  was  from  ten  to  fifteen  years  of  age. 


THE   BLUE   LICKS.  21 

. 

Iii  his  tenth  year,  the  treaty  of  Greenville  was  made,  sub- 
sequent to  Wayne's  victory,  which  restored  peace  with 
the  Indians,  and  was  the  real  termination  of  the  Kevo- 
lutionary  era.  His  father  had  settled  very  near  what  is 
known  in  tradition  as  "  dark  and  bloody  ground ;  "  the 
field  of  the  Blue  Licks  being  but  a  few  miles  from  his 
residence.  The  battle-ground,  however,  had  been  re- 
moved from  Kentucky  to  Ohio ;  and  the  family,  as  I 
have  said,  escaped  any  actual  suffering  from  the  In- 
dians. The  wars — the  bloody  encounters — the  midnight 
alarms,  and  all  the  wild  stories  of  border  life,  were  still 
the  topics  of  conversation  ;  and  actual  danger  was  still 
near.  Speaking  of  this  period,  he  says :  "  Up  to  the 
victory  of  Wayne,  in  1798,  the  danger  from  Indians  still 
continued — that  is,  till  a  period  of  six  years  from  the 
time  of  our  arrival.  I  well  remember  the  Indian  wars  ; 
midnight  butcheries,  captivities  and  horse  stealings  were 
the  daily  topics  of  conversation.  Volunteering  to  pursue 
marauding  parties  occasionally  took  place,  and  sometimes 
men  were  drafted.  This  happened  once  to  father ; 
whether  it  was  for  Harmar's  campaign,  in  1790,  or  St. 
Glair's, in  1791, 1  cannot  say;  but  he  hired  an  unmar- 
ried man  as  a  substitute,  and  did  not  go.  At  that  time, 
as  at  present,  there  were  many  young  men  who  delighted 
in  war  much  more  than  in  work,  and  therefore,  preferred 
the  tomahawk  to  the  axe.  I  remember  that  when  the 
substitute  returned,  he  had  many  wonderful  tales  to  re- 
late, but  I  am  unable  to  rehearse  them."  *  He  states 
one  fact,  which  occurred  when  he  was  five  years  old, 
worth  recording  in  the  annals  of  female  heroism ;  and 
similar  to  which,  illustrating  the  character  of  the  times, 
many  have  been  handed  down  in  tradition.  "About 

*  Letter,  December  17,  1847. 


22  LIFE   OF  DK.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

the  same  period,  (1790,)  the  Indians  one  night  attacked 
a  body  of  travelers,  encamped  a  mile  from  our  village  on 
the  road  to  Washington.  They  were  sitting  quietly 
around  their  camp  fires,  when  the  Indians  shot  among 
them  and  killed  a  man,  whose  remains  I  remember  to 
have  seen  brought  the  next  day  into  the  village,  on  a 
litter.  The  heroic  presence  of  mind  of  a  woman  saved 
the  party.  She  broke  open  a  chest  in  one  of  the  wagons 
with  an  axe,  got  at  the  ammunition,  gave  it  to  the  men, 
and  called  upon  them  to  fight.  This,  with  the  extinc- 
tion of  their  camp  fires,  led  the  Indians  to  retreat.  That 
night  made  an  unfading  impression  on  my  mind.  We 
went  with  Uncle  Abraham  Drake's  family,  I  think,  to 
Uncle  Cornelius',  for  concentration  and  greater  safety. 
Several  of  the  men  of  the  village  went  to  the  relief  of 
the  travelers,  and  one  of  them,  a  young  married  man, 
ran  into  the  village  and  left  his  wife  behind  him.  The 
alarm  of  my  mother  and  aunts,  communicated,  of  course, 
to  all  the  children,  was  deep,  and  the  remembrance  of 
the  scene  was  long  kept  vividly  alive  by  talking  it  over 
and  over." 

From  ten  to  fifteen,  he  was  old  enough  to  take  part  in 
the  cultivation  of  corn  ;  and  nothing  can  be  more  enthu- 
siastic and  graphic  than  the  descriptions  he  has  given 
of  the  various  processes  in  that  culture ;  but  I  must 
forego  these  descriptions,  to  give  his  account  of  a  corn- 
husking,  which  illustrates  strongly  the  manners  and 
morals  of  the  times.  It  corresponds  very  well  with  some 
similar  accounts  given  by  Doddridge,  of  Western  Vir- 
ginia, and  may  serve  to  console  us  with  the  reflection, 
that  the  passions  and  vices  of  men  are  exhibited  as 
much  in  the  simplest  as  in  the  rhost  luxurious  forms  of 
society.  After  commenting  on  the  antithesis  of  style 


THE  CORN-HUSKING.  23 

which  he  admired  in  Johnson's  Rambler,  he  says :  "  But, 
I  must  pass  on  to  the  antagonisms  of  the  corn-husking. 
When  the  crop  was  drawn  in,  the  ears  were  heaped  into 
a  long  pile,  or  rick,  a  night  fixed  upon,  and  the  neigh- 
bors notified,  rather  than  invited,  for  it  was  an  affair  of 
mutual  assistance.  As  they  assembled  at  night-fall,  the 
green  glass  quart  whisky  bottle,  stopped  with  a  cob,  was 
handed  to  every  one,  man  and  boy,  as  they  arrived,  to 
take  a  drink.  A  sufficient  number  to  constitute  a  sort  of 
quorum  having  arrived,  two  men,  or  more  commonly  two 
boys,  constituted  themselves,  or  were  by  acclamation  de- 
clared captains.  They  paced  the  rick,  and  estimated  its 
contractions  and  expansions  with  the  eye,  till  they  were 
able  to  fix  the  spot  on  which  the  end  of  the  dividing  rail 
should  be.  The  choice  depended  on  the  tossing  of  a 
chip,  one  side  of  which  had  been  spit  upon.  The  first 
choice  of  men  was  decided  in  the  same  way,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  rick  was  charged  upon  by  the  rival  forces. 
As  others  arrived,  as  soon  as  the  owner  had  given  each 
the  bottle,  he  fell  in  according  to  the  end  he  belonged 
to.  The  captains  planted  themselves  on  each  side  of  the 
rail,  sustained  by  their  most  active  operatives.  Here,  at 
the  beginning,  was  the  great  contest,  lor  it  was  lawful  to 
cause  the  rail  to  slide  or  fall  towards  your  own  end, 
shortening  it,  and  lengthening  the  other.  Before  I  was 
twelve  years  old,  I  had  stood  many  times  near  the  rail, 
either  as  captain  or  private  ;  and,  although  fifty  years 
have  rolled  away,  I  have  never  seen  a  more  anxious 
rivalry,  nor  a  fiercer  struggle.  It  was  here  I  first  learned 
that  competition  is  the  mother  of  cheating,  falsehood, 
and  broils.  Corn  might  be  thrown  over  unhusked,  the 
rail  might  be  pulled  towards  you,  by  the  hand  dextrously 
applied  underneath ;  your  feet  might  push  corn  to  the 


24  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL   DKAKE. 

other  side  of  the  rail ;  your  husked  corn  might  be  thrown 
€O  short  a  distance  as  to  bury  up  the  projecting  base  of 
the  pile  on  the  other  side.  If  charged  with  any  of  those 
tricks,  you,  of  course,  denied  it,  and  there  the  matter 
sometimes  rested ;  at  other  times,  the  charge  was  re- 
affirmed ;  then  rebutted  with  "  you  lie,"  &c.,  and  then  a 
fight  at  the  moment,  or  at  the  end,  settled  the  question 
of  veracity.  The  heap  cut  in  two  —  the  parties  turn 
their  backs  upon  one  another,  and,  making  their  hands 
keep  time  with  a  peculiar  sort  of  tune,  the  chorus  of  voices 
in  a  still  night  might  be  heard  a  mile.  The  oft  replen- 
ished whisky  bottle  meanwhile  circulated  freely,  arid  at 
the  close  the  victorious  captain,  mounted  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  some  of  the  stoutest  men,  with  the  bottle  in  one 
hand  and  his  hat  in  the  other,  was  carried  in  triumph 
around  the  vanquished  party,  amidst  the  shouts  of  victory 
which  rent  the  air.  Then  came  the  supper,  in  which 
the  wTomen  had  been  busily  employed,  and  which  always 
included  a  pot  pie.  Either  before  or  after  eating,  the 
fighting  took  place ;  and,  by  midnight,  the  sober  were 
found  assisting  the  drunken  home.  Such  was  one  of  my 
autumnal  schools,  from  the  age  of  nine  to  fifteen  years.5' 
This  graphic  sketch  of  his  boyish  experience  at  a  corn- 
husking,  certainly  will  not  lessen  the  high  estimate 
formed  of  our  progress  in  society,  as  well  as  art.  Even 
the  frontiers  of  our  country,  will,  at  this  day,  scarcely 
produce  scenes  of  greater  rudeness  in  mariners,  or  vicious 
tendency  in  customs.  The  whisky  bottle  and  the  fight 
were  a  part  of  pioneer  life ;  and  it  was  only  in  a  later 
generation,  that  either  whisky  or  brandy  disappeared 
from  the  tables  of  refined  gentlemen.  Dr.  Drake,  thirty 
years  afterwards,  became  one  of  the  pioneers  of  temper- 
ance in  Ohio,  and  we  shall  hereafter  see  with  what  zeal 


A   HIDE  TO   THE  MILL.  25 

he  pursued  the  subject.  At  no  time —  either  in  this, 
his  boyhood,  or  in  after  life — did  he  yield  even  to  the 
form  of  the  popular  custom  of  drinking;  but  was 
always  not  merely  temperate,  but  abstemious. 

I  have  already  said  that  much  of  his  enthusiastic  ad- 
miration of  nature,  and  his  tastes,  were  formed  in  this 
simple  farmer  life,  in  the  forest  and  its  wilds.  I  may 
add,  that  some  of  the  strongest  of  his  scientific  tendencies 
were  acquired  in  the  same  way.  He  recognized  this 
himself,  and  in  the  following  description  of  a  ride  to 
the  mill — one  of  a  country  boy's  frequent  duties — he  has 
delineated  the  formation  of  such  tastes  and  habits. 

"  The  distant  water-mill  of  which  I  have  spoken,  was 
two  miles  above  the  Blue  Licks,  so  noted  in  latter  years 
as  a  wratering  place.  It  was  then  famous  for  salt.  Eight 
hundred  gallons  of  water  had  to  be  boiled  down  to  obtain 
a  bushel.  Father's  mode  of  paying  for  it  was  by  taking 
corn  or  hay ;  for  the  region  round  about  produced  neither. 
It  was  my  privilege  first  to  accompany  him  when  I  was 
about  eleven  years  old.  By  that  time,  he  had  got  a  small 
meadow.  He  took  as  much  hay  as  two  horses  could 
draw,  and,  after  traversing  a  rugged  and  hilly  road, 
bartered  it  for  a  bushel  of  salt.  The  trip  was  instructive 
and  deeply  interesting.  We  passed  through  a  zone  of  oak- 
land,  and  when  three  miles  from  the  springs,  we  came  to 
an  open  country,  the  surface  of  which  presented  nothing 
but  moss-covered  rocks,  interspersed  with  red  cedar.  Not 
a  single  house,  or  any  work  of  art,  broke  the  solemn 
grandeur  of  the  scene ;  and  the  impression  it  made  was 
indelible.  I  here  first  observed  the  connection  between 
rocks  and  evergreens,  and  have  never  seen  it  since  with- 
out recurring  to  this  first  and  wildest  sight,  even  now  a 
bright  vision  of  the  mind.  There  I  had  seen  three  varie- 

3 


26  LIFE  OF   DE.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

ties  of  the  earth's  surface,  and  three  modifications  of  its 
natural  productions.  I  had  tasted  the  salt-water,  seen 
the  rude  evaporating  furnaces,  and  smelt  the  salt  and  sul- 
phurous vapor  which  arose  in  columns  from  them.  I  had 
learned  that  immense  herds  of  buffalo  had,  before  the 
settlement  of  the  country,  frequented  this  spot,  destroyed 
the  shrubs  and  herbage  around,  trodden  up  the  ground, 
and  prepared  it  for  being  washed  away  by  the  rain,  till 
the  rocks  were  left  bare.  Finally,  I  was  told  that  around 
the  Licks,  sunk  in  the  mud,  there  had  been  found  the 
bones  of  animals  much  larger  than  the  buffalo,  or  any 
then  known  in  the  country.  Thus  my  knowledge  of 
zoology  was  extended,  and  I  received  a  first  lesson  in 
geology.  I  knew  more  than  I  had  done,  and  could  tell 
my  mother  and  sister  of  strange  sights  which  they  had 
never  seen.  These  sights  and  others,  which  I  now  and 
then  saw,  gave,  I  believe,  a  decided  impulse  to  the  love 
of  nature  implanted  in  the  heart  of  every  child  ;  and  to 
them,  I  ascribe,  in  part,  that  taste,  which,  at  the  age  of 
sixty,  rendered  my  travels  for  professional  inquiry  into 
new  regions  of  the  diversified  and  boundless  West,  a  feast 
of  which  I  never  cloyed." 

Perhaps  no  passage  from  actual  life  will  show  more 
clearly  than  this,  the  influence  of  scenery  and  early  asso- 
ciations, on  the  tastes  and  character  of  the  mind.  His 
poetic  temperament  easily  received  and  long  retained 
the  impressions  of  marked  features  in  nature,  especially 
of  the  wild  and  beautiful.  In  the  same  manner  the  first 
perceived  facts  and  elements  of  natural  science  struck  his 
imagination  forcibly,  and  gave  a  bent  to  his  genius. 
Natural  science  was  ever  after  one  of  his  leading  pur- 
suits ;  and  here,  at  the  Blue  Licks,  in  his  twelfth  year, 
he  is  first  surprised  by  these  fossil  remains  of  extinct 


THE  FARMER'S  BOY.  27 

mammoths,  which  directed  his  thoughts  towards  the 
antiquities  of  the  West. 

Though  he  was  much  occupied  with  the  out-door  pur- 
suits of  the  farmer's  boy,  he  had  yet  much  to  do  inside  the 
house.  Till  he  arrived  at  fifteen  years  of  age,  his  mother 
had  no  hired  help,  except  in  sickness.  Kentucky  was  a 
slave  State,  yet  his  father  never  owned  a  slave,  partly 
because  he  could  not  afford  it,  but  more  because  he  had 
an  invincible  repugnance  to  it.  He  would  not  have 
accepted  a  negro  as  a  gift,  and  been  obliged  to  keep  him 
as  a  slave.  He  sometimes  hired  one,  but  always  gave 
the  negro  something  for  himself. 

As  a  consequence  of  not  owning  slaves,  Mrs.  Drake, 
Daniel's  mother,  was  frequently  without  any  "help" in  her 
household  affairs;  and  as  Daniel  had  reached  his  twelfth 
year,  a  strong  boy,  he  became  his  mother's  chief  assistant. 
Nor  was  he  an  unwilling  one ;  for  it  afforded  the  largest 
part  of  that  narrow  circle  of  amusements,  which  were  to 
be  found  on  a  farm  in  the  back  woods.  These  domestic 
employments  were  various ;  there  was  the  gathering  and 
assisting  in  cooking  the  "truck,"  or  garden-stuff  for  the 
dinner ;  there  was  butter-making,  cheese-making,  soap- 
making,  hog-killing,  and  a  multitude  of  little  employ- 
ments belonging  both  to  house  and  field,  in  which 
Daniel  was  the  help,  the  laborer,  and  the  prime  minister 
of  both  father  arid  mother.  Judging  from  his  reminis- 
cences of  this  portion  of  his  life,  he  must  have  been  a 
parellel  to  Giles,  in  Bloornfield's  Farmer  Boy,  of  whom 
it  was  said — 

"  There  never  lacked  a  job  for  Giles  to  do." 

Of  one  of  the  arts  practiced  then  in  country  houses,  he 
gives  a  description  which  I  must  repeat ;  because  it  seems 
almost  a  lost  art,  and  because  it  is  a  part  of  the  history 


28  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL  DRAKE. 

of  society,  a  chapter  in  its  progress.  He  says,*  "when 
I  look  back  upon  the  useful  arts  which  mother  and  I 
were  accustomed  to  practice,  I  am  almost  surprised  at 
their  number  and  variety.  I  did  not  then  regard  them 
as  anything  but  incidents  of  poverty  and  ignorance.  I 
now  view  them  as  knowledge,  or  elements  of  mental 
growth.  Among  them  was  coloring.  A  standing  dye 
stuff'  was  the  inner  bark  of  the  white  walnut,  from  which 
we  obtained  that  peculiar  and  permanent  shade  of  dull 
yellow,  the  'butternut,'  so  common  in  those  days.  The 
hulls  of  the  ^Ulack'*  walnut  gave  us  a  rusty  black.  Oak 
bark,  with  copperas,  for  a  mordant,  (when  father  had 
money  to  purchase  it,)  afforded  a  better  tint  of  the  same 
kind,  and  supplied  the  ink  writh  which  I  learned  to  write. 
Indigo,  which  cost  eighteen  pence  an  ounce,  was  used  for 
blue ;  and  madder,  when  we  could  obtain  it  at  three  shil- 
lings a  pound,  brought  out  a  dirty  red.  In  all  these  pro- 
cesses I  was  once  almost  an  adept.  As  cotton  was  not 
then  in  use,  in  this  country,  or  in  Europe,  and  flax  can 
with  difficulty  be  colored,  our  material  was  generally 
wool,  or  linsey  woolsey,  and  this  brings  me  once  more  to 
the  flock." 

This  paragraph,  describing  the  domestic  life  in  one  part 
of  Daniel  Drake  in  boyhood,  proves  and  illustrates  one 
of  the  great  revolutions  in  modern  society ;  one  perhaps 
as  important  to  human  industry  and  material  comfort 
as  any  other.  It  indicates  the  period  when  cotton  and 
cotton-cloth  was  comparatively  unknown  in  Europe  and 
America.  The  consequence  was,  that  the  coarse  and  cheap 
woolens  were  the  principal  cloth  used  by  all  but  the  rich 
classes.  Most  of  this  was,  in  this  country,  made  in  fami- 

*  Beminisoential  Letters. 


SPINNING.  29 

lies.  It  was  strictly  a  domestic-  manufacture.  Hence 
coloring ,  chiefly  of  the  wool  and  yarn,  came  so  much 
into  requisition.  For  this  the  barks  of  trees,  and  the  roots 
of  some  plants,  were  used.  But  between  that  period  and 
this,  in  these  particulars,  there  is  a  great  gulf.  The 
clothing  of  the  poorer  classes  is  revolutioned.  Woolen  is 
indeed  used,  and  coloring  is,  in  remote  places,  still  a  do- 
mestic art.  But  not  so  for  the  million.  Cotton  is  now 
an  enormous  crop — a  staple  article  of  commerce.  Cotton- 
cloths  are  colored  by  machinery,  and  the  dye  stuffs,  for 
domestic  coloring,  are  purchased  at  the  druggists.  Dr. 
Drake's  life  spanned  the  whole  of  this  great  social  revo- 
lution, and  it  is  one  of  the  particulars  in  which  it  was 
peculiar,  a  living  record  of  eventful  changes. 

Another  avocation,  a  common  one  in  country  life,  was 
sheep-shearing  and  washing.  "  But  upon  this,"  he  says, 
"  I  looked  back  upon  with  little  satisfaction.  It  was  diffi- 
cult and  tiresome.  But  to  the  carding,"  he  says,  "  I  lent  a 
more  cheerful  helping  hand,  and  could  roll  as  many  good 
rolls,  in  a  given  time,  as  any  gal  of  the  neighborhood. 
Mother  generally  did  the  spinning,  but  the  doubling  and 
twisting  was  a  work  in  which  I  took  real  pleasure.  The 
buzz  of  the  big  wheel  running,  (as  I  walked  backwards, 
and  turned  the  rim  with  increased  velocity,)  from  the 
lowest  to  the  highest  note  of  the  octave,  still  seems  like 
music  in  my  ears.  To  this  process  succeeds  the  reeling 
into  skeins  ;  and  at  a  future  time  the  winding  of  a  part 
of  these  into  balls  for  stockings.  In  the  last  operation, 
I  got  my  first  lesson  of  patience  under  perplexity.  When 
a  tangled  skein  fell  into  my  hand,  fretfulness  and  impa- 
tience were  utterly  at  war  with  progress.  Alas !  how  long 
it  takes  us  to  become  submissive  to  simple  teachings.  In 
the  long  and  checkered  life  through  which  I  have  passed 


30  LIFE   OF   DR.  DANIEL  DRAKE. 

since  those  days,  how  many  tangled  skeins  have  fallen 
into  my  hands,  and  how  often  have  I  forgotten  the  pa- 
tience which  my  dear  mother  then  inculcated  upon  me ! 
Human  life  itself  is  but  one  long 'and  large  tangled 
skein,  and  in  untwisting  one  thread  we  too  often  involve 
some  others  fatally.  Death  at  last  untangles  all.  To 
the  eye  of  common  observation,  the  spacious  firmament 
appears  not  less  a  tangled  than  a  shining  frame;  and 
yet  Newton,  \>y  patience,  as  he  himself  declared,  reduced 
(for  the  human  mind)  the  whole  to  order." 

I  have  now  given,  chiefly  in  his  own  words,  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  occupations  which  filled  the  boyhood  of  Daniel 
Drake ;  the  primitive  society  in  which  he  was  brought 
up,  the  scenery  which  surrounded  him,  and  the  vivid 
impressions  which  his  ardent  and  poetic  temperament 
received  from  these  external  circumstances.  But  if  we 
were  to  trace  the  springs  of  human  action  up  to  their 
source ;  if  we  would  seek  the  mold,  as  it  were,  in  which 
any  individual  mind  has  been  shaped  to  its  course,  if  we 
would  learn  how  the  characters  of  those,  in  whom  we 
are  most  interested,  were  vested  with  those  special  traits 
of  feeling,  inclination,  sympathy,  and  intelligence,  by 
which  they  are  known  to  us,  we  must  go  yet  more  into 
the  mystery  of  their  growth.  We  must  know  how  these 
exterior  circumstances  were  received  by  that  mind ;  how 
they  were  thought  of,  and  what  specific  impulses  they 
gave  it.  In  most  persons,  this  is  impossible,  even  if  they 
had  recorded,  and  were  willing  to  relate  the  minute 
events  of  their  early  lives.  For  whoever  considers  this 
matter,  in  the  workings  of  his  own  mind,  will  perceive 
at  once,  that  it  requires  a  superior  culture  to  understand 
its  own  workings.  In  an  ignorant,  or  dull  mind,  strong 
memory  might  recall  all  the  incidents  of  earliest  youth, 


THE   SCHOOL   OF   NATURE.  31 

and  present  a  partial  daguerreotype  of  that  youth ;  yet 
for  want  of  internal  consciousness  arid  intellectual  sensi- 
bility, the  workings  and  effects  of  these  incidents  and 
events  would  never  be  known.  In  the  youth  of  Dr. 
Drake,  however,  there  was  all  the  consciousness,  all 
the  sensibilities,  and  the  poetic  imagination,  necessary  to 
give  the  bodied  memory  of  early  events,  life  and  light. 
Then  there  was,  in  after  times,  the  culture  which  enabled 
him,  in  the  language  of  his  profession,  to  give  the 
physiology  of  his  own  spirit.  This  he  has  done  in  the 
autobiographical  letters  I  have  quoted,  and  I  can 
present  no  clearer  view  of  his  character,  and  the  work- 
ings of  his  mind,  in  its  forming  stage,  than  by  pursuing 
his  own  account  of  his  early  education.  This  education 
may,  in  him,  as  in  most  other  persons,  be  considered  in  the 
three  aspects  of  the  teachings  of  nature  in  the  surround- 
ing world,  of  intellectual  instruction,  and  of  moral 
impressions.  The  education  of  nature  is  generally  left 
out  of  the  account,  but  how  great  a  teacher  is  nature, 
even  in  her  rudest  forms,  all  minds  of  acute  perceptions 
and  sensibilities  most  keenly  know.  They  know  how 
long  the  memory  of  even  a  faint  snow-flake,  or  a  beauti- 
ful flower,  or  a  passing  cloud,  or  a  singing-bird,  has 
revived  the  remembrance  of  what  others  considered  of 
great  importance,  and  how  the  impression  of  natural 
objects  made  deep  furrows  in  the  soul.  So  it  was  with 
Daniel  Drake,  he  has  given  us  an  account  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  he  was  effected  by  this  education  of  nature. 
The  general  effect  of,  what  he  called  well,  "the  school 
of  the  woods,"  on  his  character  may  be  understood  from 
a  paragraph  on  the  autumn,  written  after  he  was  sixty 
years  of  age,  but  giving  evidently  the  impressions  they 
made. 


32  LIFE   OF   DK.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

"  While  yet  unmutilated  by.  the  rude  and  powerful  arm 
of  the  pioneer,  the  woods  are  a  great  school  of  beauty. 
There  is  a  stern  beauty  in  leafless  winter,  when,  after  a 
cold  rain,  the  limbs  and  twigs  are  transformed  into  in- 
verted icicles,  on  which  the  light  of  the  cold  bright  sun 
plays  in  dazzling  splendor.  There  is  a  soft  and  swelling 
beauty  in  spring,  when  the  tender  leaves  of  every 
tree,  and  the  rival  blossoms  of  the  buckeye,  dogwood, 
red-bud,  crab-apple  and  locust,  unite  in  speaking  to 
our  hearts,  that  the  dominion  of  winter  is  at  an  end. 
There  is  a  ripe,  aormatic,  and  welcome  beauty  in  sum- 
mer, when  the  sun,  once  more  a  fountain  of  heat  as  well 
as  light,  has  given  breadth  of  form  and  depth  of  green, 
and  erected  the  woods  into  one  vast  temple,  whose  col- 
umns are  the  trees,  whose  covering  is  a  leafy  firmament. 
In  autumn  there  is  a  solemn  and  meditative  beauty, 
when  the  canopy  of  foliage,, —  (like  that  tenant  of  the 
deep,  which  laid  upon  the  sands  of  the  shore,  radiates 
all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow,  and  then  expires,)  —  puts 
on  every  hue  and  begins  to  fall.  In  this  affecting  dis- 
play of  mingled  tints,  (which  has  no  equal  in  nature, 
save  that  sometimes  made  in  the  clouds  for  a  moment  by 
the  setting  sun,)  a  living  green  still  smiles  upon  us ;  but 
the  brown  and  withered  leaves,  which  are  already  strewn 
around,  tell  too  plainly  the  end  to  which  all  are  hasten- 
ing. They  have  but  gone  before  the  rest ;  and  the  hand 
of  the  same  destiny  is  suspended  overall.  Their  course 
is  done,  their  race  is  run,  and  they  are  preparing  to  die. 
They  no  longer  play  together  in  the  breeze,  nor  thrive  to- 
gether in  the  sun.  The  fruit  and  seed  which  they  had 
protected  from  rays  and  helped  to  nourish,  are  now  ripe, 
and  must  soon  follow  them  to  the  parent  earth  ;  there  to 
be  protected  and  defended  by  them  from  the  frosts  of 


AUTUMNAL  INFLUENCES.  33 

winter,  and,  at  some  future  time,  become  their  food  ;  be 
converted  into  wood  and  fruit,  experience  a  resurrection, 
and  take  on  a  new  body.  But,  without  dwelling  on  this 
symbol  of  our  own  transition,  we  may  see  in  the  series 
of  autumnal  events,  the  care  with  which  God  has  pro- 
vided for  the  preservation  and  preparation  of  the  forest 
races,  by  an  endless  multiplication  of  germs,  and  their 
dependence  on  the  parent  tree  for  life,  on  its  leaves  for 
protection,  and  the  influence  of  air  as  the  breath  of  life. 
Thus  illustrating,  in  the  midst  of  surpassing  beauty  and 
solemn  grandeur  the  relation  of  child  and  parent,  and 
showing  all  to  be  the  workmanship  of  one  wise  and 
almighty  hand.  Such  are  some  of  the  autumnal  lessons, 
taught  in  the  great  school-house  of  the  woods. 

"  But  do  not  for  one  moment  suppose  that  I  then  had, 
or  now  pretend  to  have  had,  the  thoughts  and  emotions 
which  I  am  here  expressing ;  for  I  know  they  were  not 
present  with  me.  What  I  contend  for  is,  that  to  be  in 
the  midst  of  such  scenes  in  childhood  and  youth,  is 
beneficial.  I  insist  that  autumn  has  its  lessons  for  the 
mind,  its  influences  on  the  young  heart,  and  that  to  many 
they  are  most  precious.  Children  are  seldom  conscious 
of  many  of  the  effects  which  external  circumstances  pro- 
duce upon  them.  They  know  when  they  are  pleased  or 
displeased,  but  give  no  heed  to  the  germs  of  thought,  and 
emotion,  and  taste,  which  the  scenes  and  objects  around 
them  may  be  quickening  into  life.  They  are  unaware 
of  the  tendency  which  this  influence  is  giving  them  to 
good  or  to  evil ;  yet  both  may  be  in  reality  a  permanent 
basis.  They  are  molded,  and  may  feel  the  hand,  but 
know  nothing  of  the  model  which  is  in  the  mind  of  the 
artist.  They  assume  a  specific  form,  but  are  not  then, 
perhaps  never,  able  to  refer  it  to  the  impressing  forces ; 


34:  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DKAKE. 

and  still,  but  for  them,  it  would  not  have  come  into  ex- 
istence. That  the  autumnal  influences  of  which  I  have 
spoken,  were  molding  forces  of  my  own  character,  and 
that  many  of  its  better  traits  were  thus  called  into  ac- 
tivity, I  cannot  doubt ;  and  having  thus  developed  to 
you  another  agency,  which  acted  on  me  in  boyhood,  I 
request  you  to  generalize  and  extend  what  is  true  of  one 
to  the  character  of  many." 

This  piece  of  autobiographical  philosophy,  more  than 
any  written  passage  I  know  of,  gives  the  true  principle 
and  secret  of  natural  influences  on  character  and  life.  If 
the  proof  from  memory  were  not  sufficient,  the  very 
revival  of  these  influences,  in  giving  existence  and  color- 
ing to  these  thoughts,  proves  how  deep  and  how 
durable  they  were.  He  well  remarks,  that  few  are  able 
to  recall  and  perceive  them.  He  might  have  added, 
that  few  have  received  these  impressions  so  profoundly, 
and  are  gifted  with  the  genius,  which,  seizing  these  influ- 
ences in  the  depth  of  the  past,  brings  them  to  the  mind's 
eye  —  pictures  them  forth  in  a  living  image,  and  deduces 
from  them  the  truths  of  nature,  and  the  principles  of  phi- 
losophy. Such,  however,  was  his  genius  —  a  gift  of  God 
—  but  which,  as  we  shall  see,  was  well  and  severely 
cultivated. 

These  influences  may  be  called  the  education  of  na- 
ture. The  book  was  open  to  him,  and  he  read  like  other 
youth,  the  story,  rather  than  the  science  it  disclosed.  It 
was  the  science  of  that  natural  world,  which  was  ever 
after  to  become  his  study.  In  the  mean  time,  he  got 
something,  but  not  very  much,  from  what  is  commonly 
called  education  —  that  which  is  learned  only  from  read- 
ing. His  father's  library,  as  may  be  supposed,  was  by  no 
means  extensive.  It  consisted,  in  his  own  words,  of  the 


THE  LIBRARY.  35 

Bible,  Eippon's  Collection  of  Hymns,  Dilworth's  Spell- 
ing Book,  an  Almanac,  and  the  famous  History  of  Mon- 
tellion — a  romance  of  chivalry.  To  these  were  after- 
wards made  considerable  additions,  as  the  young  Daniel 
advanced  in  the  scholastics.  He  got  Webster's  Spelling 
Book — at  that  time  quite  a  novelty  —  Entick's  Diction- 
ary, Scott's  Lessons,  ^Esop's  Fables,  and  Franklin's  Life. 
All  these,  and  some  others  procured  by  borrowing,  were 
good  in  their  way.  If  they  were  not  extensive  in  learn- 
ing, or  tempting  to  the  fancy,  they  were  useful ;  they 
contained  the  elements  of  knowledge,  and  gave  no  false 
and  vicious  ideas  of  society. 

With  this  small  library,  with  the  woods  around,  and 
in  a  log-cabin  school-house,  our  youth  commenced  his 
education  or  instruction  ;  that  only  which  the  world  calls 
education,  and  which  certainly  is  one  of  its  essential 
parts,  without  which  he  could  not  have  been  an  eminent 
physician,  nor  have  created  an  interest  beyond  the  family 
circle,  in  the  minds  of  others. 

rlf  the  library  was  meagre,  so  the  schools  in  that  back- 
woods country  were  scarcely  more  abundant.  His  father, 
however,  managed  to  send  him  occasionally  to  school. 
He  says  "  limited  as  were  my  attainments,  they  exceed- 
ed those  of  most  boys  around  me,  who  knew  .much  less. 
Still,  as  I  was  going  to  be  a  doctor,  father  decided  I  must 
have  another  quarter's  schooling.  Accordingly,  he  sub- 
scribed again  to  Master  Smith,  who  kept  a  log  school- 
house  on  the  banks  of  the  Shannon,  in  the  woods,  just  two 
miles  north  of  where  he  lived.  So  1  began  to  resume 
my  suspended  school  studies ;  but  the  corn  had  to  be 
hoed,  and  seeding  time  required  the  wheat-field  to  be 
harrowed  after  the  sowers,  and  seed  had  to  be  covered 
with  the  hoe,  near  the  numerous  stumps ;  and  it  was 


36  LIFE  OF   DE.  DANIEL  DRAKE. 

indispensable  for  me  to  labor  with  my  hands,  as  well  as 
head.  So  I  had  to  rise  at  the  dawn  of  day,  and  work  at 
the  field  till  breakfast  time,  then  eat,  and  start  with  my 
dinner  in  my  hand.  As  the  distance  was  two  miles,  I 
had  to  use  feet,  as  well  as  head  and  hands,  and  generally 
ran  most  of  the  way.  But  what  did  I  do  when  I  reached 
the  consecrated  log-cabin  ?  Why  work,  conning  the  hard 
words  in  Webster,  especially  certain  outre  ones,  and 
certain  other  tables  of  words,  alike  in  sound  but  different 
in  signification  and  spelling,  write,  cipher,  and  read  in 
Scott's  lessons." 

He  had  now  arrived  at  his  fifteenth  year,  and,  indeed, 
near  the  close  of  his  whole  early  education.  Before  I 
give  a  summary  of  what  that  education  was,  I  must 
mention  the  names  of  his  teachers.  It  is  the  least  we  can 
do  to  preserve  the  names  of  those  who  have  contributed, 
even  in  the  smallest  degree,  to  form  the  minds  of  those 
who  have  been  useful  and  honorable  among  men.  The 
teachers  of  Dr.  Drake  were  not  very  many,  and  some  of 
them  seem  not  to  have  been  either  very  learned  or  very 
worthy.  His  first  teacher  was  one  M'Quilty.  After 
he  reached  nine  years,  Jacob  Beaden,  from  Maryland, 
came,  who  wielded  the  hickory  rod  in  the  first  school- 
house.  His  function  was  to  teach  reading,  writing,  and 
ciphering,  as  far  as  the  rule  of  three.  In  this  school 
Daniel  was  a  pupil  in  his  tenth  and  eleventh  years,  and 
seems  then  to  have  been  engaged  in  spelling,  reading,  and 
the  first  rules  of  arithmetic.  According  to  his  own  re- 
collection, he  was  an  orderly  and  attentive  boy ;  never 
playing  truant,  but  being  sometimes  feruled  for*  minor 
offenses. 

His  next  teacher  was  Kenyon,  a  Yankee,  at  that  time  a 
rara  avis  in  Kentucky.  Of  him  he  says,  he  was  superior 


SCHOOL-MASTERS.  37 

to  Beaden,  and  a  man  of  some  appearance  and  manners. 
He  taught  in  his  uncle  Cornelius'  still-house.  Under 
this  teacher  he  made  some  progress,  and  learned  the  rule 
of  three.  Of  Kenyon's  attainments,  though  superior  to 
Beaden,  he  seems  to  have  had  no  very  high  respect, 
for  he  gives  a  curious  problem,  which  he  says  Kenyon 
refused  to  solve,  and  he  believed  could  not.  The  exam- 
ple was  this! 

"  If,  from  a  measure  three  feet  high, 
The  shadow  five  is  made, 
What's  the  steeple's  hight  in  yards, 
That's  ninety  feet  in  shade?" 

After  long  meditation,  he  appears  to  have  solved  this 
difficult  problem,  to  the  great  delight  of  himself  and  his 
father,  who,  from  this  hopeful  success,  drew  auspicious 
auguries  of  the  future.  His  teacher  Kenyon,  however, 
received  a  mysterious  and  sudden  eclipse ;  for  he  ran 
away  in  disgrace. 

His  next  teacher  was  one  Smith,  a  Virginian,  but 
of  him  I  shall  speak  again. 

The  next  instructor  was  Kneeland,  also  a  Yankee,  and 
who  also  disappeared  suddenly  and  in  bad  odor.  His 
next  and  last  teacher,  was  his  old  Master  Smith.  He  it 
was  who  taught  on  the  banks  of  the  Shannon,  as  before 
mentioned,  and  who  gave  the  finishing  touches  to  young 
Drake's  academical  education.  As  it  was  decided  that 
he  was  to  study  medicine,  his  father  thought  it  necessary 
he  should  receive  more  elementary  knowledge.  To  him 
Daniel  was  sent  during  the  spring,  summer,  and  early 
autumn  of  1800,  when  he  was  in  his  fifteenth  year.  In 
this  time,  he  applied  himself  ardently  and  anxiously  to 
his  studies,  conscious  that  a  professional  life  would  re- 
quire a  discipline  of  mind  greater  and  more  thorough 


38  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

than  he  had  been  able  to  obtain.  In  the  knowledge  of 
what  such  a  life  needed,  as  well  as  in  the  ambition  to 
attain  it,  he  was  greatly  assisted  by  his  cousin,  John 
Drake,  a  medical  student,  who  seems  to  have  been  endow- 
ed with  genius  and  attainments  much  beyond  those  of 
common  young  men.  From  his  books  he  learnt  that  a 
great  deal  of  reading,  of  study,  and  of  science,  was  neces- 
sary to  an  eminent  physician  ;  and  by  his  conversation 
he  was  excited  with  the  desire  to  attain  that  eminence, 
and  caught  the  spirit  which  could  accomplish  it.  John 
Drake  died  in  that  year,  and  that  event  changed  a  plan 
formed  for  Daniel  to  study  with  him.  What  he  might 
have  been,  had  he  remained  in  Kentucky,  we  may  con- 
jecture in  vain  ;  for,  at  each  time  in  life,  some  common 
event,  or  even  small  circumstance,  turns  us  aside  from  our 
pre-determined  plans,  and  like  the  ball  glancing  aside 
from  obstacles,  we  go  where  we  did  not  intend,  and 
become  what  we  could  not  anticipate.  We  may  be  quite 
sure,  however,  that  in  the  comparative  obscurity  of  a 
country  practice,  even  his  genius  could  never  have  been 
as  developed  and  distinguished  as  it  was  in  accompany- 
ing the  growth,  and  stimulated  by  the  social  movements 
of  Cincinnati.  How  he  came  there  we  shall  soon  see. 
In  the  meanwhile  let  us  take  a  glance  at  the  results  of 
his  intellectual  and  moral  studies.  Let  us  see  with 
what  weapons  and  arms  he  was  prepared  to  enter  the 
great  battle  of  the  world. 

The  summary  of  what  he  had  acquired  at  school 
is  given  by  himself  in  these  words : 

"  I  had  learned  to  spell  all  the  words  in  Dilworth, 
and  a  good  portion  of  those  in  Noah  Webster,  Jr.,  whose 
spelling  book  then  seemed  to  me  a  greater  marvel  than 
does  his  Quarto  Dictionary,  now  lying  before  me.  As  a 


BOY'S   LEARNING .  39 

reader,  I  was  equal  to  any,  in  what  I  regarded  as  the 
highest  perfection,  a  loud  and  tuneless  voice.  In  chiro- 
graphy  I  was  so-so,  in  geography  obscure,  and  in  history 

o !    In  arithmetic,  as  far  as  the  double  rule  of  three, 

practice,  tare  and  tret,  interest,  and  even  fractions  in 
decimals.  My  greatest  acquirement,  that  of  which  I 
was  rather  proud,  was  some  knowledge  of  surveying, 
acquired  from  Love,  (I  mean  to  name  the  authot,  as  well 
as  my  taste,)  but  which  I  have  long  since  forgotten.  Of 
grammar  I  knew  nothing,  and,  unfortunately,  there  was 
no  one,  within  my  reach,  who  could  teach  it." 

Such  was  the  substance  of  the  early  intellectual 
instruction  of  the  future  savant.  If  it  was  scant,  it  was 
such  only  as  the  pioneer  school-house  could  afford  ;  but 
its  scantiness  was  made  up,  in  after  life,  by  the  strength 
of  the  seed  and  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  which  caused  these 
germs  to  burst  forth,  and  gathering  nutrinuent  from  the  sun, 
and  rain,  and  dew,  of  the  outer  world,  to  become  fruitful 
trees.  Scripture,  in  drawing  analogies  from  nature, 
informs  us  that  of  the  human  soul,  as  of  the  natural  plants, 
the  magnitude  of  future  results  does  not  depend  on  the 
size  of  the  seed,  but  even  the  smallest  seed  may  become 
large  and  blooming  trees. 

But  the  grace  so  to  grow  and  enlarge,  depends  upon 
the  kind  and  quality  of  the  seed  left  to  germinate.  This 
leads  us  to  inquire  what  was  his  moral  instruction  ?  I 
have  said  in  the  beginning,  that  the  parents  of  Dr.  Drake 
were  pious,  simple-hearted  Christians.  Their  little  library, 
as  I  have  related,  was  quite  half  composed  of  the  Bible, 
hymn  books,  and  religious  collections.  The  whole  influ- 
ence of  his  parents,  therefore,  and  of  his  Tiome,  to  which 
then,  as  afterwards,  he  was  most  dearly  attached,  were  of  a 


40  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

good  kind,  counseling  him  to  resist  the  temptations  of 
general  society,  and  leading  his  mind  to  contemplate 
divine  influences.  While  he  was  under  his  home  influ- 
ence, however,  the  external  pioneer  society  presented  much 
that  was  the  very  reverse  ;  pleasures  of  a  gross  kind  and 
vices  of  all  sorts.  He  considered  it  afterwards  to  have  been 
an  advantage,  as  things  turned  out,  that  he  had  seen  the 
opposite  sides  of  society  in  youth,  and  lived  amidst 
good  and  evil.  In  regard  to  the  moral  influences  of 
what  is  commonly  called  simple  country  life,  he  gives  a 
testimony  of  high  value.  No  one  certainly  was  more 
disposed  to  judge  it  favorably,  and  indeed,  he  considered 
country  training  quite  indispensable  to  great  strength  of 
character,  yet  he  said,  after  all  his  observation  and  ex- 
perience, that  he  thought  the  moral  dangers  to  youth  in 
the  country,  were  greater  than  in  the  city.  I  shall  not 
stop  to  give  reasons  for  his  opinions,  but  they  who  have 
been  boys  in  a  country  village,  well  know  that  it  is  not 
without  foundation. 

From  his  parents  he  received  a  religious  training  which 
was  made  altogether  more  effective  upon  his  future  char- 
acter, from  the  fact  that  he  was  a  dutiful  and  affectionate 
child.  He  appears  to  have  been,  in  all  his  youthful 
avocations,  by  the  side  of  father  or  mother,  their  chief 
help  and  willing  auditor.  Of  his  father,  he  says,  he 
was  a  Christian  gentleman,  who,  comparatively  without 
education,  knew  well  the  duties  and  courtesies  which  that 
character  required.  His  mother  was  even  less  educated, 
but  her  spiritual  knowledge  and,  specially,  her  sense  of 
religious  duty,  made  her  the  best  of  teachers.  She,  as 
is  ever  the  case  with  children,  was  his  religious  instruc- 
tor, and  to  her  his  grateful  mind  turned  back,  after  half  a 


INFLUENCE   OF  PARENTS.  41 

century  of  trials,  duties,  arid  struggles,  as  if  even  beyond 
the  vail  of  other  worlds,  he  would  still  commune  with  the 
same  mild  and  genial  spirit! 

Of  the  influence  of  his  mother  he  thus  speaks,  after 
he  had  described  some  of  the  vices  of  the  neighborhood : 

"  That  I  was  preserved  from  any  active  participation 
in,  or  contamination  from,  these  associations,  to  which 
I  can  trace  up  the  ruin  of  many  of  my  companions,  ought 
to  fill  my  heart  with  gratitude  to  God.  The  influences 
under  Him,  which  protected  me,  were,  I  think,  in  part 
my  natural  tastes  and  feelings,  but  in  greater  part,  the 
admonition  of  my  parents,  and  of  mother  still  more, 
perhaps,  than  father. 

"  Blest  is  the  heedless  little  boy, 

To  whom  is  given, 

(The  boon  of  Heaven,) 
A  pious  mother  ever  kind, 
Yet  never  to  his  wand'rings  blind. 

"  Who  watches  every  erring  step, 
In  holy  fear; 
And  drops  a  tear 
Of  pity,  on  the  chastening  rod. 
Then  strikes,  and  points,  in  prayer,  to  God." 

In  the  preceding  sketch,  much  of  it  autobiographical, 
I  have  traced  the  steps  of  Daniel  Drake  during  the  first 
fifteen  years  of  his  life— from  1785  to  1800.  There  are 
few  whose  life,  at  that  early  period,  can  be  so  distinctly 
traced ;  and  few  in  which  we  can  so  clearly  see  the  na- 
tural qualities,  the  surrounding  influences,  the  domestic 
habits,  the  private  education,  and  the  parental  guidance 
which  molded  the  character  into  its  after  forms,  and  fur- 
nished the  original  forces  of  future  action.  If  we  have 
found  little  that  was  brilliant  and  striking,  we  have  found 
much  that  is  instructive.  In  the  secluded  life  of  a  farmer's 

4 


42  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

boy  in  Kentucky,  before  towns  or  cities  had  risen  on  the 
Ohio,  there  is  little  but  the  individual  life  —  the  simple 
human  being  to  study  or  admire.  But  this  we  find 
perfectly  marked  out,  and  of  no  common  kind.  How 
vivid  that  poetic  temperament  which  could  extract  such 
pictures  of  the  imagination,  and  such  keen  emotions  from 
the  aspects  of  nature !  How  sharp  the  perceptions  which 
could  note  all  its  operations,  and  each  varying  change ! 
How  strong  the  memory  which  could  return  after  half  a 
century,  and  paint  in  living  colors  each  scene,  event,  and 
action,  of  those  earlier  days ! 

Here,  in  these  rural  retreats,  he  received  the  first 
impulse  towards  natural  science ;  here  he  received  that 
taste  for  natural  beauty  which  never  left  him ;  here  he 
acquired  those  simple  habits,  which  made  him  not  only 
temperate,  but  abstemious  in  all  his  personal  wants ; 
here  he  acquired  all  the  academic  education,  small  as  it 
was,  which,  aside  from  his  self-instruction  and  his  profes- 
sional acquirements,  he  was  able  to  obtain ;  and  here, 
according  to  the  received  opinions  of  the  world,  his  edu- 
cation ceased.  But  was  it  so  with  him  ?  Yery  differ 
ent  from  this  was  his  estimate  of  human  culture.  He 
was  one  of  those,  as  we  shall  see  .in  pursuing  his  thread 
of  life,  whose  education  never  ceased,  and  whose  labors 
were  never  done.  All  persons,  places,  and  seasons,  were 
to  him  the  means  and  agents  of  instruction.  Thus  he 
continually  illustrated,  in  his  own  mind  and  person,  that 
great  principle,  that  nature  and  society  are  but  edu- 
cators. All  are  ministering  spirits,  which  a  strong 
mind  converts  into  instruments  of  growth  and  acquisi- 
tion. Education,  in  its  length  and  fullness,  is  but  the 
vestibule,  and  they  who  teach  it,  but  the  servants  in  that 
building  of  various,  beautiful,  and  infinite  adornment, 


DRAKE  ENDS   SCHOOLING.  43 

into  which  God  has  invited  every  one  who  is  willing  to 
inquire  of  him  and  his  works!  So  thought  Daniel 
Drake,  and  so  has  thought  every  man  who  has  accom- 
plished much  by  living  long  and  living  well. 

In  his  sixteenth  year  he  has  arrived  at  the  close  of 
boyhood,  and  the  threshold  of  active  life.  He  is  on  the 
line  of  two  centuries,  (the  year  1800,)  and  thence  we  find 
him  pursuing  the  path  of  an  honorable  and  successful 
life,  filled  with  historical  monuments  to  his  useful  labors, 
and  his  public  services. 


CHAPTER  II. 

1800 — 1806 — Choice  of  a  Profession — Goes  to  Cincinnati  to  Study- 
Medicine— -Cincinnati  in  1800— Sketch  of  Dr.  Goforth,  his  Pro- 
fessor— His  Medical  Education — Enters  upon  the  Practice— Goes 
to  Philadelphia  to  attend  Lectures  in  the  University'— His  Manner 
of  Study — Returns  to  Cincinnati. 

MOST  professional  men  seern  to  have  sought  their  occu- 
pation, or  to  have  been  placed  in  it,  merely  by  the  influ- 
ence of  casual  or  adventitious  circumstances.  Few  seem 
to  have  had  a  decided  choice  of  their  own,  and  much 
the  greatest  number  to  have  been  governed  by  others. 
Even  Dr.  Drake,  with  his  strong  natural  tastes,  was  not 
an  exception.  He  was  predestined  to  his  profession  by 
his  father,  who  seems  to  have  chosen  it  in  the  ambition 
or  the  hope  of  elevating  at  least  a  portion  of  his  de- 
scendants above  the  condition  of  simple,  uneducated 
farmers.  The  manner  in  which  this  change  wras  effected 
he  thus  relates : 

"  The  caste  to  which  I  belonged  was  to  be  changed, 
and  in  the  arrangements  of  Providence,  I  was  made  un- 
consciously the  instrument  by  which  that  change  was  to 
be  effected.  The  conception  of  this  change  was  less  my 
own  than  my  father's.  He  was  a  gentleman  by  nature, 
and  a  Christian  from  convictions  produced  by  a  simple 
and  unaffected  study  of  the  word  of  God.  His  poverty 
he  regretted,  his  ignorance  he  deplored.  His  natural  in- 
stincts were  to  knowledge,  refinement,  and  honorable 
influences  in  the  affairs  of  the  world.  In  consulting  the 
tradition  of  the  family,  he  found  no  higher  condition  than 
his  own,  as  their  lot  in  past  times  ;  but  he  had  formed  a 
44 


CHOICE   OF   A   PROFESSION.  4:5 

conception  of  something  more  elevated,  and  resolved  on 
its  attainment — not  for  himself  and  mother,  nor  for  all  his 
children,  for  either  would  have  been  impossible ;  but  for 
some  member  of  the  family.  He  would  make  a  begin- 
ning ;  he  would  set  his  face  towards  the  land  of  promise, 
although,  like  Moses,  he  himself  should  never  enter  it." 
Thus  his  destiny  was  fixed  by  his  father  in  his  in- 
fancy ;  and  while  there  were  many  things  which  might 
have  diverted  him  from  his  course,  and  changed  that 
destiny,  yet  Providence  worked  with  the  father's  will, 
and  made  the  choice  of  the  father  the  decree  of  fate.  I 
have  already  described  the  influence  of  his  cousin,  John 
Drake,  upon  him,  who  doubtless  influenced  Daniel's 
taste  in  favor  of  his  father's  wishes.  It  was  intended 
that  when  John  came  to  practice  medicine,  Daniel 
should  be  his  pupil ;  but  Providence  made  a  different 
and  better  arrangement.  John  Drake,  like  many  a  child 
of  genius,  died  young,  and  Daniel  was  turned  towards 
Cincinnati.  How  that  particular  destination  came 
about,  was  rather  the  result  of  a  casual  circumstance, 
than  of  a  previous  judgment.  It  seems  that  his  father 
in  coming  to  the  West,  or  at  some  intermediate  period, 
had  descended  the  river  with  Dr.  Goforth,  who  first 
settled  at  Maysville,  and  afterwards  at  Cincinnati.  He 
was  so  much  pleased  with  Goforth,  that,  in  pursuance  of 
his  ambitious  design,  he  determined  Daniel  should  be  a 
doctor.  The  time  had  now  arrived  when  that  design 
was  to  be  fulfilled.  Daniel  had  just  "  finished,"  to  speak 
fashionably,  his  studies  with  Master  Smith ;  and  his 
father  had  visited  Dr.  Goforth,  to  arrange  the  terms  of 
his  medical  probation  with  him.  In  the  meanwhile  it 
was  noised  around  the  neighborhood  that  Daniel  Drake 
was  to  be  a  doctor  —  a  real  gentleman  • —  and  lead  a  life 


46  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

of  ease  and  gentility !  Some  called  him  doctor,  and  all 
who  passed  had  something  to  say  on  the  subject.  Much 
valuable  advice  was  given,  both  to  his  father  and  him- 
self. Some  particularly  cautioned  him  against  being 
"  too  proud ; "  while  his  uncle  Cornelius,  with  some 
knowledge  of  the  world,  put  him  on  his  guard  against 
bad  young  men  and  evil  companionship,  of  which  he 
understood  there  was  much  around  Fort  "Washington, 
or  "  Gin,"  as  Cincinnati  was  then  called. 

On  the  morning  of  the  16th  of  December,  1800,  Daniel, 
his  father,  and  a  Mr.  Johnson,  set  out  on  horseback  for 
Fort  "Washington,  at  which  they  arrived  on  the  third 
day.  How  changed  are  all  the  modes  of  locomotion 
since  then !  From  Maysville  to  Cincinnati,  about  60 
miles,  is  now  gone  in  a  few  hours,  in  splendid  and  luxuri- 
ous steamboats.  Then  the  river  crafts  were  fiat-boats,  the 
roads  bridle-paths,  the  taverns  log-cabins,  and  it  was  a 
hard  journey  to  go  from  Mayslick  to  Cincinnati. 

The  first  night  the  party  lodged  at  Germantown,  in  a 
one-roomed  log-cabin.  The  next  day  they  were  ferried 
over  the  Ohio,  and  dined  at  Indian  Creek.  The  next 
night  they  lodged  at  Columbia,  now  a  suburb  of  Cincin- 
nati. Here  they  found  but  a  few  scattered  cabins,  and 
between  Columbia  and  Deer  Creek  bridge  there  were  but 
two  cabins  —  one  about  half  way,  and  the  other  near 
Mr.  Kilgour's  present  residence.  The  Post  Office  was 
then  kept  on  Congress  street,  near  the  corner  of  Law- 
rence, by  Colonel  Ruffin. 

In  the  course  of  this  journey  the  keen  and  ever  active 
faculty  of  observation  manifested  in  young  Drake,  was 
strongly  exhibited.  In  crossing  the  Little  Miami,  he 
was  struck  with  the  appearance  of  trees  on  lands  sub- 
ject to  inundation,  which  he  had  not  seen  before  ;  and. 


THE  VILLAGE   ABOUND   FOKT  WASHINGTON.  47 

as  he  entered  Cincinnati,  and  walked  in  the  then  little 
village,  every  object  was  minutely  observed,  and  strongly 
impressed  upon  his  memory;  so  much  so,  that  fifty 
years  afterwards,  in  an  historical  reminiscence,  given 
before  the  Cincinnati  Medical  Society,  he  traced  a  vivid, 
accurate,  and  interesting  picture  of  Cincinnati  as  it 
then  was.  And  what  was  Cincinnati,  the  great  metro- 
polis of  the  West,  then  ?  It  may  serve  to  give  us  a  more 
distinct  view  of  his  own  labors  and  progress,  to  glance  a 
moment  at  the  village  around  Fort  Washington. 

The  entire  surface  of  cleared  lands  at  that  time  did 
not  equal  that  which  is  now  built  over  by  a  solid  mass 
of  houses.  Beyond  the  canal,  and  west  of  Western 
Row  there  was  a  forest,  with  here  and  there  a  small 
cabin,  connected  with  the  village  by  a  narrow  winding 
road.  South  of  the  elbow  of  the  canal,  and  where  the 
Roman  Catholic  Cathedral  now  is,  there  were  half 
cleared  fields,  with  margins  of  black-berry  bushes,  where 
the  young  people  used  to  gather  the  fruit,  at  the  risk  of 
being  snake-bitten.  On  Fifth  street,  near  the  German 
Catholic  Church,  there  then  stood  a  mound,  on  the  top 
of  which  General  Wayne,  seven  years  before,  planted  his 
sentinels.*  The  site  of  the  Mechanics'  Institute,  in  which 
Dr.  Drake,  in  January  1852,  delivered  his  address  before 
the  Medical  Library  Association,  was  then  part  of  a 
wheat-field,  the  stubble  of  which  was  even  then,  he  said, 
decaying  around  the  foundation  of  that  building.  In 
fact,  where  the  best  part  of  the  city  now  is,  was  but  a 
mere  clearing,  with  here  and  there  a  field,  and  a  few 
cabins.  At  the  corner  of  Main  and  Third  streets,  where 
the  Ohio  Life  Insurance  and  Trust  Company  Bank  now 

*  Drake's  Discourse,  delivered  before  the  Medical  Library  Asso- 
ciation, January,  1852. 


4:8  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

stands,  lived  Menassier,  a  French  political  exile,  who,  on 
the  slope  of  the  hill  between  Main  and  Walnut  streets,  cul- 
tivated a  vineyard ;  the  first  in  this  region  now  celebrated 
for  the  production  of  grapes,  and  the  manufacture  of  na- 
tive wine.  Where  Congress  and  Lower  Market  streets 
now  are,  there  was  a  belt  of  low,  wet  ground,  which, 
previous  to  the  settlement  of  the  town,  had  been  a  series 
of  beaver  ponds,  filled  by  the  rains  and  the  annual  over- 
flow of  the  river.  Front  street  was  the  only  one  which 
exhibited  any  pretension.  It  was  nearly  built  up  with 
log  and  frame  houses,  from  Walnut  street  to  Eastern 
Row,  now  called  Broadway.  The  men  of  wealth  and 
business,  with  the  hotel  (kept  by  Griffin  Yeatman)  were 
chiefly  on  this  street,  which  even  had  a  few  patches  of 
sidewalk  pavement.  Near  the  hotel,  which  was  on  the 
corner  of  Front  and  Sycamore  streets,  was  a  small 
wooden  market-house  built  over  a  cove,  into  which  barges 
and  other  craft,  when  the  river  was  high,  were  poled 
or  paddled,  to  be  tied  to  the  rude  columns.  In  the  an- 
gle northeast  of  Fourth  and  Broadway,  the  whole  square 
was  inclosed,  and  a  respectable  frame-house  erected  by 
the  Hon.  Winthrop  Sargent,  Secretary  of  the  North- 
west Territory.  He  was  at  this  time  removed  to  Mis- 
sissippi Territory,  of  which  he  was  Governor,  and  the 
house  was  occupied  by  the  Hon.  Charles  Byrd,  his 
successor  in  office. 

From  Fourth  street  to  the  river  was  the  military  re- 
serve of  sixteen  acres,  around  Fort  Washington,  and  with- 
in that  rose  the  bastions,  stockades,  and  flag-staff  of  the 
fort,  where  morning  and  evening,  the  reveille  and  the 
tattoo  were  heard.  In  1803,  the  fort  was  evacuated,  and 
soon  after  the  grounds  divided  and  sold  as  city  lots. 
The  Post  Office  was  kept  on  the  eastern  side  of  this  Mill- 


CINCINNATI  IN   EIGHTEEN   HUNDRED.  49 

tary  Common,  near  the  corner  of  Lawrence  and  Congress 
streets,  where  the  great  eastern  mail  arrived  as  often  as 
once  a  week,  and  its  contents  dispensed  by  the  hands  of  the 
quiet  and  gentlemanly  Colonel  Ruffin,  then  postmaster. 

On  the  square  between  Lawrence  and  Pike,  Fourth 
and  Third  streets,  commonly  called  the  Lytle  Square,  a 
single  house  had  been  built  by  Dr.  Allison,  and  a  field 
of  several  acres  stretched  off  to  the  east  and  north.  This 
was  the  residence  of  Dr.  Goforth,  young  Drake's  precep- 
tor. Dr.  Allison  had  planted  peach  trees,  and  it  was 
known  in  the  village  as  Peach  Grove,  although  when 
he  arrived  there,  the  dry  cornstalks  of  early  winter,  were 
standing  yet  near  the  door.  Such  wTas  the  locale,  as  I 
may  say,  in  which  the  young  medical  student  was 
placed,  in  the  commencement  of  what  proved  to  be  a 
long,  arduous,  and  memorable  career.  It  wTas  the  germ, 
but  the  mere  germ,  the  place  only  of  a  future  city.  His 
youth  in  the  wilderness  of  Kentucky,  and  his  manhood 
in  the  infancy  of  Cincinnati,  had  a  common  feature.  In 
both  it  was  a  transition  state,  a  state  in  which  a  great  fu- 
ture was  to  be  produced,  chiefly  by  the  energy,  will,  and 
genius  of  the  present  actors.  There  is  a  genius  of  the  place, 
and  whatever  that  genius  might  be  in  the  present  case,  it 
was  evidently  one  which  must  be  constructive,  having  the 
tact,  and  industry  to  recompose,  out  of  the  rich  materials 
furnished  by  nature,  not  only  new  dwellings,  but  new  as- 
sociations, new  ideas  of  society,  and  to  seize  on  bold  and 
original  thoughts.  We  shall  see  as  we  pursue  his  life, 
that  this  sort  of  genius  had  full  influence  on  his  mind. 

Having  taken  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  place,  I  shall 
next  introduce  his  preceptor.  It  is  impossible  that  a 
preceptor  should  not  have  influence  over  his  pupil  of  some 
kind,  and  when,  as  in  this  instance,  he  was  a  peculiar 

5 


50  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL   DKAKE. 

4 

and  eccentric  man,  his  influence  is  likely  to  be  peculiar, 
even  if  it  were  only  by  impelling  to  an  opposite  course. 
There  were  many  points  in  Goforth's  character  which 
were  disliked  and  avoided  by  Drake,  but  there  was  also 
in  others  a  sort  of  distant  resemblance,  which  always 
made  the  student  feel  and  speak  kindly  and  respectfully 
of  his  old  preceptor. 

Dr.  William  Goforth  was  a  native  of  New  York. 
He  was  a  pupil  of  Dr.  Young,  then  a  physician  of 
eminence  in  New  York,  and  enjoyed  the  teachings  of 
that  distinguished  anatomist  and  surgeon,  Dr.  Charles 
M'Knight,  then  a  public  lecturer  of  New  York.*  He 
came  to  the  Ohio  valley  in  company  with  his  brother- 
in-law,  General  John  S.  Gano,  and  commenced  medi- 
cal practice  at  Washington,  (Ky.,)  in  1788.  There 
he  remained  eleven  years,  and  acquired  both  business 
and  popularity.  It  was  from  him  that  Mr.  Drake,  sr., 
first  got  the  idea  of  making  his  son  a  physician.  In  the 
spring  of  1800  he  removed  to  Cincinnati,  and  occupied 
the  Peach  Grove  House,  then  vacated  by  Dr.  Allison's  re- 
moval to  the  country.  It  was  in  the  December  following, 
that  he  was  joined  by  his  pupil  Drake. 

Dr.  Goforth  is  described  as  dressing  with  precision, 
in  the  then  fashion  of  the  day,  having  his  hair  powdered 
carefully  in  the  morning,  his  hands  gloved,  and  walking 
out  with  his  gold -headed  cane.  He  had  the  most  win- 
ning manners ;  great  kindness  of  heart,  told  anecdotes, 
and  talked  fluently,  though  precise  in  diction.  With 
such  dress  and  address,  it  is  no  wonder  he  made  an  im- 
pression on  the  mind  of  his  pupil,  as  well  as  gained  favor 
with  the  public.  He  was  withal  enthusiastic,  and  in 

*  Drake's  Discourse  before  the  Medical  Library  Association. 


SKETCH   OF   DR.  GOFORTtf.  51 

some  things  eccentric.  Indeed,  I  remember  to  have 
heard  of  him  traditionally  as  one  of  the  characters  of  the 
pioneer  times. 

His  pupil  gratefully  records  of  him  several  good  acts 
more  substantial  than  those  of  common  kindness.  To  Dr. 
Goforth,  he  says,  the  people  were  indebted  for  the  intro- 
duction of  the  cow-pox,  at  an  earlier  time  than  it  was 
naturalized  elsewhere  in  the  West.  Dr.  Benjamin  Water- 
house  had  received  infection  from  England,  in  the  year 
1800,  and  early  in  1801  Dr.  Goforth  received  it  and 
commenced  vaccination  in  Cincinnati.  Dr.  Drake  was 
one  of  his  first  patients,  and,  seeing  that  its  influence  last- 
ed fifty  years,  he  was  rather  surprised  to  find  medical 
gentlemen  shying  off  from  cases  of  small-pox.*  Dr. 
Goforth  was  fond  of  schemes  and  novelties  ;  among  other 
things,  he  encouraged  the  search  for  the  precious  metals 
in  the  backwoods ;  and  sought  to  mend  his  fortunes  by 
the  clarification  of  ginseng  and  its  shipment  to  China. 
In  this  way,  he  was  often  the  victim  of  adventurers,  in 
either  a  small  or  great  way.  The  metal  searchers  would 
bring  him  iron  pyrites  and  hornblende  to  analyse,  while 
they  quartered  at  his  house.  In  this  way,  and  by  his  zeal 
for  the  curious  and  the  antiquarian,  he  was  seriously  in- 
jured by  a  celebrated  literary  irnposter.  Sometime  about 
1805-6,  there  came  a  traveler  to  the  West,  who  gave 
his  name  as  D'Arville ;  and,  as  such  was,  by  means  of 
letters,  introduced  to  the  best  society  of  Cincinnati.  This 
man  was  Thomas  Ashe,  an  Englishman,  the  first  to  dis- 
cover that  a  book  abusing  the  people  of  the  United 
States  would  be  profitable  by  its  popularity.  He  per- 
formed his  work  with  great  thoroughness,  and  achieved 

*  Drake's  Discourse  before  the  Medical  Library  Association. 


52  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

in  England  a  correspondent  success.  But  for  Goforth  he 
had  a  worse  character  than  even  that  of  a  malignant  libel- 
er ;  to  him  he  was  a  cheat  and  an  imposter.  At  Big-bone 
Lick,  (Ky.,)  about  twenty-five  miles  below  Cincinnati,  was 
a  vast  depository  of  the  fossil  bones  of  the  Mastodon. 
Dr.  Goforth  had,  at  great  expense,  dug  up  and  put  to- 
gether the  largest  of  these,  so  as  to  constitute  a  fossil 
skeleton  of  an  extinct  animal,  probably  unequaled  in  the 
world  for  its  size  and  completeness.  D'Arville,  alias 
Ashe,  persuaded  him  to  intrust  them  to  him  as  partner, 
he  exhibiting  them  in  Europe,  while  he  shared  the  pro- 
ceeds with  the  doctor.  The  bones  were  never  heard  of 
again,  except  in  a  rumor  that  Ashe  had  sold  them  and 
taken  the  proceeds.  Thus  was  Goforth  swindled  out  of 
what  was  no  doubt  a  large  part  of  his  small  fortune. 
These  traits  and  incidents  illustrate  his  character.  He 
was  sanguine,  credulous,  and  enthusiastic  in  his  pursuits, 
but  with  a  real  love  for  science,  and  a  steady  pursuit  of 
knowledge. 

In  1807,  when  Drake  had  been  several  years  in  prac- 
tice, his  eccentric  preceptor  and  friend  took  a  sudden 
departure.  He  had  been  much  enamored  of  the  French, 
which  was  increased  by  the  society  of  Menassier,  who  I 
have  mentioned  as  having  planted  a  vineyard  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Main  and  Third  streets.  When  the  purchase  of 
Louisiana  took  place,  a  field  was  opened  both  to  his  taste 
and  his  adventurous  spirit.  Accordingly,  he  set  out  in  a 
flat-boat  to  seek  his  fortune  among  the  Creoles  and  their 
marshes  on  the  lower  Mississippi.  There  he  was  elected 
a  Parish  Judge,  and  became  a  member  of  the  convention 
which  formed  the  Constitution  of  Louisiana.  In  the 
midst  of  this  public  success,  however,  he  was  full  of  pri- 
vate disappointments.  The  climate  was  unhealthy  and 

1 


HIS  MEDICAL  EDUCATION.  S3 

•unpleasant  to  him.  Creole  manners  did  not  equal  his 
expectations,  and  his  medical  practice  hardly  corres- 
ponded with  his  expenses.  I  have  seen  a  letter  from  him 
to  a  friend,  in  which,  after  detailing  some  of  his  griev- 
ances, he  graphically  describes  the  now  splendid  city  of 
New  Orleans  as  a  "hell  upon  earth"  a  figure  of  speech 
which,  I  suppose,  was  then  much  nearer  the  truth  than 
it  is  in  these  peaceful  and  prosperous  times. 

The  career  of  Goforth  now  drew  to  an  end.  He  was 
a  surgeon  to  the  Louisiana  Volunteers  in  the  war  of  1812 ; 
but,  in  1816,  returned  to  Cincinnati  with  his  family  in  a 
keel-boat.  He  reached  the  landing  after  a  voyage  of 
eight  months !  Such  a  fact,  when  posterity  are  but  a 
few  days  in  traversing  the  same  distance,  will  be  thought 
one  of  the  marvels  of  history.  The  doctor  soon  acquired 
business,  but  in  a  few  months  sunk  to  the  grave,  a  victim 
to  a  liver  disease  acquired  in  the  South.  Of  this  remarka- 
ble man  Dr.  Drake  says,  he  was  the  most  popular  and 
peculiar  physician  who  had  appeared  in  the  ranks  of  the 
infant  profession  at  Cincinnati,  or,  indeed,  ever  belonged 
to  it. 

Such  were  the  place  and  the  preceptor  in  and  with 
whom  Dr.  Drake  commenced  his  medical  career.  They 
certainly  stand  in  strong  contrast  with  the  great  city  and 
eminent  medical  schools  with  which  he  terminated  his 
labors,  and  of  which  he  might  say,  with  more  truth  than 
JEneas,  of  which  I  was  myself  a  founder.  His  stock  of 
learning,  as  I  have  said,  was  small,  and  his  stock  of 
money  even  less.  He  had,  however,  from  the  commence- 
ment what  is  equal  to  riches — industry  and  perseverance. 
With  this  capital,  and  his  enthusiastic  love  of  nature, 
he  commenced  his  pupilage  with  Dr.  Goforth,  at  Peach 
Grove  House.  He  was  then  in  his  sixteenth  year ;  and 


54:  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE.     • 

during  the  next  three  years,  his  chief  occupation  was  the 
study  of  medicine,  the  running  of  errands,  the  compound- 
ing of  drugs,  and  all  such  employments  as  befall  that  jack 
of  all  trades,  a  country  doctor's  boy,  student,  young  man, 
or  whatever  else  bluntness  or  courtesy  may  call  him.  Of 
this  transition  period  of  his  life,  I  know  little  except  that 
he  was  diligently  employed  in  his  vocation;  that  he 
shared  with  characteristic  sympathy  in  the  troubles  (not  a 
few)  of  his  friend  and  preceptor ;  that  he  was  busy  in 
his  observations  upon  nature ;  that  he  frequently  visited 
his  parents  at  Mayslick  ;  and  that  he  corresponded  with 
them  in  terms  of  affectionate  warmth.  Indeed,  his  filial 
piety  was  always  active,  and  down  to  a  much  later  period 
he  anticipated,  as  the  greatest  happiness  of  his  life,  that 
he  should  finally  practice  his  profession  near  his  early 
home,  and  thus  smooth,  by  his  labor  and  attention,  the 
old  age  of  his  parents.  In  a  letter  dated  1804,  he  ex- 
presses this  idea  very  strongly ;  and,  after  acknowledging 
what  he  terms  improprieties  in  his  boyhood,  commends 
himself  to  his  father  by  an  unimpeached  character. 
"  Since  I  have  lived  here,"  said  he  "  I  defy  the  town  to 
impeach  me  with  one  action  derogatory  to  my  honor  or 
reputation."  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  this  estimate 
of  his  own  character ;  for  the  purity  of  his  after  life  reflect- 
ed its  truth,  and  tradition  has  furnished  no  rumor  of 
anything  to  the  contrary.  It  was  not  very  easy  to  stand 
such  a  test  safely;  for  the  dangers  and  temptations  of 
young  men  at  that  time,  were  quite  as  great  as  they  are 
now  in  the  largest  cities.  Fort  Washington  was  garrison- 
ed by  gay  officers  and  loose  soldiers.  The  village  around 
it  was  filled  with  as  gay  society,  though  not  wanting  in 
some  persons  of  serious  and  religious  deportment.  The 
tone  of  society  was  military,  and  the  garrison  which  gave 


SOCIETY   OF  CINCINNATI   IN   EIGHTEEN  HUNDRED.      55 

that  tone  was  (as,  indeed  was  the  whole  army  immedi- 
ately after  the  Kevolution )  rather  distinguished  for  the 
vices  of  gambling  and  intemperance.  Judge  Burnet, 
who  was  then  a  lawyer  at  the  bar,  mentions  General 
Harrison,  (then  a  lieutenant,)  and  one  other,  as  the  only 
officers  he  knew  who  did  not  end  their  life  by  intemper- 
ance. Of  gambling  he  spoke  as  a  common  practice  at 
the  garrison.  There,  surrounded  with  men  of  all  ages, 
from  the  young  subaltern  to  the  grey-haired  veteran  and 
respectable  citizen,  nearly  all  of  whom  thought  it  a  light 
matter  to  engage  in  these  fashionable  vices,  he  was 
neither  seduced  by  their  authority  or  example.  -It  was, 
perhaps,  from  his  early  observation  on.  these  vices,  that  he 
remained  to  the  end  of  life  not  only  abstinent  from  them 
but  hostile,  looking  with  contempt  upon  their  followers 
and  with  abhorrence  on  their  effects. 

His  association  with  Drs..Goforth,  Allison,  and  others, 
threw  him  into  the  best  society  of  the  place  and  times, 
of  which  he  had  the  taste  and  judgment  to  avail  himself. 
As  these  social  connections  had  great  influence  on  his 
after  life,  I  shall  name  some  of  those  who  were  then  in 
the  front  ranks  of  the  pioneers.  Of  these  were  Judge 
Symmes,  the  patentee  and  proprietor  of  the  Miami  valley ; 
Lieutenant  (afterwards  General  and  President)  Harri- 
son, who  had  married  the  daughter  of  Judge  Symmes ; 
Mr.  (afterwards  General)  Findley,  Eeceiver  of  Public 
Moneys ;  General  Gano,  long  Clerk  of  the  Courts  ;  Mr. 
(afterwards  Judge)  Burnet;  Arthur  St.  Clair,  Ethan 
Stone,  Nicholas  Longworth,  &c.,  members  of  the  bar ;  Drs. 
Goforth,  Allison,  Burnet,  Sellmann,  physicians  ;  the  Kev. 
Messrs.  Wallace  and  Kemper,  Presbyterian  clergymen  ; 
Colonel  John  S.  Wallace,  Major  Zeigler ;  Messrs.  Baum, 
Dugan/  Stanley,  the  Hunts,  Wade,  Kilgour,  Spencer, 


56  '      LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL  DKAKE. 


Symmes,  Yeatman,  and  others  of  like  stamp,  principal  citi 
zens.  These  were  among  the  most  distinguished  of  that 
band  of  pioneers  who  founded  Cincinnati,  shaped  its  for- 
tunes, and  formed  its  first  circle  of  good  society.  Their 
manners  and  education  were  those  of  the  first  gentlemen  in 
the  United  States  ;  for  they  had  received  their  education 
in  the  Eastern  States,  and  had  the  manly  bearing  which 
characterized  the  revolutionary  army,  mingled  with  the 
frank  spirit  of  the  pioneers.  Indeed,  the  manners  of  the 
pioneers  were  superior  to  their  morals;  for  hospitality 
pressed  the  bottle  in  all  companies,  and  cards  and  theatri- 
cals were  common  amusements.  Conviviality  was  an 
essential  part  of  the  social  system ;  and  while  such  men 
as  most  of  those  I  have  named  survived,  to  be  distin- 
guished in  another  period,  and  add  their  contribution  to 
the  common  stock  of  public  reputation,  great  numbers 
sank  to  unhonored  graves. 

This  society,  however,  was  really  good ;  and  to  a  youth 
brought  up  in  the  country,  instructive  as  well  as  plea- 
sant. The  members  of  it  were  older  than  Drake,  but  not 
the  less  accessible ;  for  there  was  but  one  circle,  and  the 
Goforths  and  Ganos,  with  whom  he  was  intimate,  were 
a  prominent  part  of  it. 

At  this  period,  I  have  said,  his  chief  employment  was 
the  study  of  medicine,  and  the  business  of  an  apotheca- 
ry's boy.  What  these  were  he  has  himself  described.  * 
"  It  was  my  function  during  the  first  three  years  of  my 
pupilage,  to  put  up  and  distribute  medicines  over  the 
village.  In  doing  this,  I  was  brought  even  as  far  west  as 
where  the  Mechanics'  Institute  now  is.  f  In  this  distri- 
bution, when  my  preceptor  was,  I  may  say,  the  principal 

*  Discourse  before  the  Medical  Library  Association, 
f  Corner  of  Sixth  and  Vine  streets. 


THE  "DOCTOR'S  SHOP."  57 

physician  of  the  village,  fleetness  was  often  necessary  to 
the  safety  of  patients  ;  and  as  there  were  no  pavements, 
the  shortest  way  through  a  mud-hole  seemed  to  boyish 
calculations  the  best." 

The  medicines  were  compounded  in  what  was  known 
as  the  "  Doctors'  Shop  "  of  the  last  century.  Of  this  he 
says :  "  But  few  of  you  have  seen  the  genuine  old  doc- 
tors' shop,  or  regaled  your  olfactory  nerves  in  the  mingled 
odors,  which,  like  incense  to  the  god  of  physic,  rose 
from  brown  paper  bundles,  bottles  stopped  with  worm- 
eaten  corks,  and  open  jars  of  ointment ;  not  a  whit  be- 
hind those  of  the  apothecary  in  the  days  of  Solomon. 
Yet  such  a  place  is  very  well  for  a  student ;  however 
idle,  he  will  always  be  absorbing  a  little  medicine,  espe- 
cially if  he  sleep  beneath  the  greasy  counter." 

Dr.  Drake  was  the  first  student  of  medicine  in  Cin- 
cinnati, and  he  has  recorded  the  beginning  of  medical 
education.  On  the  20th  December,  1800,  the  day  after 
his  arrival,  he  commenced  as  medical  student.  His  first 
assigned  duties  were  to  read  Quincy's  Dispensatory,  and 
grind  quicksilver  into  mercurial  ointment.  This  was  be- 
ginning the  theory  and  practice  at  once.  The  medical 
works  studied  were  Chesselden  on  the  Bones,  and  Jones 
on  the  Muscles,  without  specimens  of  the  former,  or 
plates  for  the  latter;  and  afterwards  the  Humoral  Pa- 
thology of  Boerhave  and  Vansweiten,  without  having 
studied  the  Chemistry  of  Chaptal,  the  Physiology  of 
Haller,  or  the  Matseria  Medica  of  Cullen. 

If  the  course  of  studies  was  selected  by  his  preceptor, 
his  studio,  and  the  manner  of  it,  were  undoubtedly 
chosen  by  his  own  taste.  In  the  spring  and  summer  of 
1801,  he  says :  "  The  adjoining  meadow  with  its  forest 
shade  trees,  and  the  deep  and  dark  woods  of  the  near 


58  /•      LIFE  OF  DR«   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

banks  and  valley  of  Deer  Creek,  acted  in  the  manner  of 
the  wilderness  on  the  young  Indian,  caught  and  incarce- 
rated in  one  of  the  school-houses  of  civilization.  Un- 
derneath these  shade  trees,  the  roots  of  which  still  send 
up  an  occasional  scion,  or  among  the  wild  flowers  of  the 
wood,  which  exhaled  incense  to  Flora  instead  of  JEscu- 
lapius,  it  was  my  allotted  work  to  commit  to  memory 
the  works  of  Chesselden  and  En  ness." 

Dr.  Goforth  had  a  great  dislike  to  the  depleting  prac- 
tice of  Dr.  Rush,  then  the  great  medical  authority  of 
Philadelphia ;  so  much  so  that  he  would  neither  buy  nor 
read  his  wrorks.  In  the  year  1802,  however,  there  came 
out  from  New  York,  Dr.  John  Stiles,  who  had  studied 
medicine  in  Philadelphia,  and  was  indoctrinated  with  the 
ideas  of  the  new  school.  Dr.  Stiles  soon  became  the  part- 
ner of  Dr.  Goforth,  and  so,  in  a  measure,  the  instructor 
of  Drake.  He  brought  out  with  him  some  of  the  memoirs 
and  discourses  of  Dr.  Rush,  which,  to  the  mind  of  Drake, 
were  intellectual  food  of  the  freshest  and  most  captiva- 
ting kind.  He  seized  with  avidity  upon  the  forbidden 
fruit,  (for  such  they  were,)  and  soon  acquired  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Rush  philosophy.  Goforth  perceived  this, 
and  it  had  his  respect,  though  his  prejudices  had  kept 
him  ignorant  of  those  ideas ;  and  in  1803,  when  Drake 
was  only  eighteen  years  of  age,  the  Doctor  began  to  ask 
the  opinions  of  his  pupil,  on  cases  which  arose  in  his 
practice.  This  confidence  proceeded  so  far  that,  in  May, 
1804,  Goforth  and  Drake  became  partners  in  the  busi- 
ness of  their  profession.  Though  physicians,  unlike  law- 
yers, have  no  specific  conditions  of  age  and  qualifications 
as  requisites  to  their  practice,  yet  this  early  admission  to 
the  ranks  of  the  profession  must  be  regarded  as  some- 
thing extraordinary.  Drake  was  then  less  than  nineteen 


DRAKE  BECOMES   A  DOCTOB.  59 

years  of  age,  and  only  three  years  before  had  emerged 
from  the  wilderness,  a  farmer's  boy,  with  only  the  knowl- 
edge attainable  in  a  country  school.  His  partner  also 
was  fully  capable  of  discrimination,  an  educated  physi- 
cian, and  a  gentleman  of  good  mind,  and  in  the  confi- 
dence of  the  community.  These  circumstances  convince 
me  that  the  young  student,  then  elevated  by  his  precep- 
tor, not  only  possessed  the  good  character  of  which  he 
spoke  to  his  father,  but  must  have  had  more  than  com- 
mon abilities.  He  had  read,  as  we  have  seen,  for  that 
period,  not  only  good  authors,  but  had  shown  his  sympa- 
thy with  genius  by  the  avidity  with  which  he  seized  and 
read  the  works  of  Dr.  Kush. 

Having  thus  early,  and  I  may  say  crudely,  entered  on 
the  practice,  two  difficulties  sprung  up,  which  were  not 
only  in  his  way,  but  in  that  of  all  physicians  at  that  early 
period  in  the  West.  These  were  the  real  hardships  of  a 
country  practice,  and  the  extreme  difficulty  of  collect- 
ing the  small  sums  due  from  their  patients.  These  were 
greatly  enhanced  to  him  from  the  fact,  that  while  he  was 
poor  and  needed  all  he  could  get,  his  partner,  Dr.  Go- 
forth,  was  unthrifty  and  imprudent.  His  first  essay, 
therefore,  as  a  practitioner,  was  attended  with  many 
annoyances  and  little  disappointments. 

Of  the  hardships  of  practice  he  complained  little,  but 
has  left  a  picture  in  sufficiently  sombre  colors,  not  to  ex- 
cite the  envy  of  young  medical  men  at  this  day.  True 
enough,  to  him,  and  to  all  enthusiastic  as  well  as  self- 
denying  minds,  there  is  pleasure  in  the  most  arduous 
labors,  and  an  enjoyment  in  the  wildest  aspects  of  na- 
ture, or  the  roughest  modes  of  society.  There  was  youth 
to  color  his  prospects  with  the  hues  of  hope,  and  a 
peaceful  conscience  to  reward  diligence  in  duty. 


60  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

Of  the  influence,  society,  and  circumstances  of  those 
times,  on  the  practice  of  medicine,  he  thus  spoke  in  a 
subsequent  period  :  "  They  were  not  favorable  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  science,  nor  to  the  regular  and  diligent  dis- 
charge of  the  daily  duties  of  the  physician,  but  were  well 
fitted  to  produce  the  opposite  effects ;  and  thus,  while  it 
deteriorated  his  personal  habits,  it  contributed  to  keep 
the  pecuniary  condition  of  the  people  so  low,  that  the  re- 
wards of  the  physician  throughout  the  whole  era  were 
such  as  would  now  be  regarded  as  insignificant." 

The  practice  of  a  physician  then  was  hard,  and  such 
as  our  city  doctors  would  now  think  unendurable.  Of 
this  practice  he  has  given  us  a  sketch,  in  the  address 
before  mentioned.*  "  Every  physician  was  then  a 
country  practitioner,  and  often  rode  twelve  or  fifteen  miles 
on  bridle-paths  to  some  isolated  cabin.  Occasional  rides 
of  twenty  or  even  thirty  miles  were  performed  on  horse- 
back, on  roads  which  no  kind  of  carriage  could  travel 
over.  I  recollect  that  my  preceptor  started  early  in  a 
freezing  night  to  visit  a  patient  eleven  miles  in  the  coun- 
try. The  road  was  rough,  the  night  dark,  and  the  horse 
brought  for  him  not  (as  he  thought)  gentle ;  whereupon 
he  dismounted  after  he  got  out  of  the  village,  and 
putting  the  bridle  into  the  hands  of  the  messenger, 
reached  his  patient  before  day  on  foot.  The  ordinary 
charge  was  twenty-five  cents  a  mile,  one  half  being  de- 
ducted, and  the  other  paid  in  provender  for  his  horse,  or 
produce  for  his  family.  These  pioneers,  moreover,  were 
their  own  bleeders  and  cuppers,  and  practiced  dentistry 
not  less  certainly  than  physic ;  charged  a  quarter  of  a 
dollar  for  extracting  a  tooth,  with  an  understood  deduc- 

*  Discourse  before  the  Medical  Library  Association. 


ENTERS  UPON  THE  PEACTICE  OF  MEDICINE.  61 

tion  if  two  or  more  were  drawn  at  the  same  time.  In 
plugging  teeth,  tin-foil  was  used  instead  of  gold-leaf,  and 
had  the  advantage  of  not  showing  so  conspicuously. 
Still  further,  for  the  first  twelve  or  fifteen  years,  every 
physician  was  his  own  apothecary,  and  ordered  little  im- 
portations of  cheap  and  inferior  medicines  by  the  dry- 
goods  merchants,  once  a  year,  taking  care  to  move  in  the 
matter  long  before  they  were  needed." 

In  fine,  the  sparse  population,  as  well  as  the  rude  state 
of  the  arts  in  those  early  times,  required  the  duties  of 
several  professions  to  be  performed  by  one  person.  The 
physician  was  at  once  surgeon,  doctor,  dentist,  and 
apothecary;  and  the  merchant  dealt  not  in  any  one 
branch  of  his  business,  but  was  a  sort  of  of  universal  pur- 
veyor of  society,  whose  store  was  one  omnium  gatherum 
of  all  needed  wares.  Something  of  this  we  see  in  coun- 
try towns  now,  but  not  to  the  same  extent.  The  difficul- 
ties in  locomotion  made  a  great  difference  in  relative 
prices.  Merchandise  brought  from  a  distance  was  very 
dear,  while  the  personal  services  of  a  professional  man 
were  very  cheap.  Thus  a  common  dose  of  salts,  or  pare- 
goric, was  only  twenty-five  cents,  while  the  visit  of  the 
physician  was  n'o  more.  The  differences  in  the  price  of 
articles  of  food,  in  common  use,  were  equally  great ; 
flour,  corn,  and  meat,  cost  very  little,  while  sugar  and 
coffee  were  five  times  their  present  price.  Few  wore 
broad-cloth  or  linen — then  among  the  most  expensive 
luxuries — while  nearly  all  wore  the  linsey-woolseys  and 
domestic  jeans  of  the  country. 

The  condition  of  the  physician,  as  well  as  the  general 
state  of  society,  have  been  entirely  changed  by  the  advance 
of  the  arts,  and  especially  by  the  celerity  of  movement, 
the  almost  ubiquity,  created  by  the  use  of  steam  power. 


62  LIFE  OF  DS.  DANIEL  DRAKE. 

The  pioneer  life  described  by  Dr.  Drake,  exists  no  more, 
either  here  or  anywhere.  It  is  said,  we  have  no  "  child- 
ren" now-a-days  ;  and  we  certainly  have  no  pioneers, 
even  in  the  most  distant  verge  of  our  unsettled  territories. 
The  settler  of  Kansas  or  Oregon  is  still  within  sound  of 
the  steam-whistle,  and  while  he  drives  off  the  buffalo 
with  one  hand,  furnishes  with  the  other  his  log-house 
in  pianos  and  carpets.  He  may  drink  the  coffee  of  Bra- 
zil, be  strengthened  with  the  bark  of  Peru,  and  be  killed 
with  the  opium  of  India,  while  yet  fresh  from  their  native 
soil.  The  pioneers — such  were  Dr.  Drake  and  his 
cotemporaries  in  the  commencement  of  this  century — 
separated  from  the  seats  of  civilization,  except  by  long 
and  wearisome  journeys,  dependent  on  their  own  exer- 
tions, creating  their  own  resources,  and  giving  bulk  and 
form  to  a  new  society,  exist  no  more.  They  are  not  even 
like  the  last  Indian,  to  be  seen  retreating  behind  the 
western  hills.  They  are  extinguished ;  and  they  will  be 
known  hereafter,  only  by  such  pictures  of  them  as  history 
can  make  from  scattered  records  and  faded  traditions. 

The  year  1803  had  now  passed,  in  the  life  of  Drake,  as 
I  have  described,  chiefly  as  a  medical  student  or  apothe- 
cary's boy,  and  a  lad  of  all  work.  It  was  in  May,  1804, 
when  he  was  eighteen,  that  Dr.  Gotbrth  took  him  into 
partnership,  and  this  introduced  him  not  only  into  some 
new  employments  but  also  to  new  cares  and  troubles ; 
for  I  have  said  that  physicians  were  not  only  ill  paid, 
but  that  Goforth,  in  money  matters,  was  rather  an  tra- 
thifty  man.  Hence,  we  may  readily  imagine  that  the 
collection  of  small  debts  and  the  vexation  of  frequent 
failures  to  collect  enough  for  their  wants,  fell  heavily  upon 
the  young  doctor.  It  was  the  more  annoying  to  him  as  he 
was  not  trusted  with  the  full  management  of  their  finances, 


ENTERS  UPON  THE  PRACTICE  OF  MEDICINE.  63 

while  he  had  all  the  actual  trouble  and  annoyance. 
He  felt  this  severely,  and  in  a  letter  to  his  father,  dated 
July  31,  1804,  three  months  after  the  partnership  com- 
menced, he  gave  one  of  those  graphic  pictures  of  real 
life,  of  which  the  material  everywhere  exists,  but  is  unseen 
by  the  great  world.  He  says,  that  their  business  in- 
creases rapidly,  and  they  charge  from  three  to  six  dollars 
per  day,  but  he  doubts  whether  one  fourth  will  be  collected. 
"The  Doctor  trusts  every  one  who  comes  as  usual.  I 
can  get  but  a  small  share  in  the  management  of  our  ac- 
counts, or  they  would  be  conducted  more  to  our  advan- 
tage. I  have  not  had  three  dollars  in  money  since  I 
came  down,  but  I  hope  it  will  be  different  with  me  after 
a  while.  An  execution  against  the  Doctor,  for  the  medi- 
cine he  got  three  years  since,  was  issued  a  few  days  ago, 
and  must  be  levied  and  returned  before  the  next  general 
court,  which  commences  the  1st  of  September.  This  exe- 
cution has  thrown  us  all  topsy-turvy.  The  Doctor  has 
given  his  accounts,  (up  to  the  time  our  partnership  com- 
menced,) which  amount  to  eight  or  nine  hundred  dollars, 
to  the  constable  for  collection.  He  has  done  nothing 
yet,  though  he  has  had  them  near  two  months."  After 
some  other  details,  he  adds,  "I  am  heartily  sick  and 
tired  of  living  in  the  midst  of  so  much  difficulty  tod 
embarrassment ;  and  almost  wish  sometimes  I  had  never 
engaged  in  partnership  with  him,  for  his  medicine  is  so 
near  gone  that  we  can  scarcely  make  out  to  practice, 
even  by  buying  all  we  are  able  to  buy.  Add  to  this,  it 
gives  me  great  unhappiness  to  see  him  in  such  a  deplor- 
able situation.  I  get  but  little  time  to  study  now-a- 
days,  for  I  have  to  act  the  part  of  both  physician  and 
student,  and  likewise  assist  him  every  day  in  settling 
his  accounts." ' 


64:  LIFE  OF  DK.   DANIEL  DKAKE. 

'   .«. 

Such  were  the  difficulties  with  which  the  young  phy- 
sician was  surrounded,  even  when  practice  seemed  the 
most  abundant.  Nor  were  they  confined  merely  to  his 
business  as  physician.  They  touched  his  personal  com- 
forts, and  diminished  his  already  narrow  store  of  sup- 
plies. He  writes  to  his  father — "I  have  not  been  able 
to  purchase  those  two  books  I  was  telling  you  were  at  a 
store  in  town,  but  may  be  I  shall  before  I  leave  this." 
The  struggle  with  these  difficulties  imposed  its  valuable 
lesson  of  self-denial,  and  he  adds,  in  the  same  letter, 
"I  owe  nothing  except  to  Mr.  D.,  and  am  determined  to 
owe  him  but  little." 

In  some  way — how  I  do  not  know — Goforth  got  round 
the  difficulty  of  the  execution,  and  he  and  his  young 
partner  proceeded  in  their  medical  career.  In  three 
months  after,  (November,  1804,)  Drake  again  writes  that 
he  is  still  short  of  money,  and  that  he  has  so  many 
things  to  buy  that  a  little  will  not  answer  his  purpose. 
He  throws  in,  however,  this  consolation :  "  But  I  hope 
to  get  through  with  it  all  in  a  few  weeks.  We  have 
plenty  owing."  Thus  the  sunshine  began  to  mingle 
with  the  clouds,  and  his  cheerful  spirit  readily  seized 
upon  all  that  was  bright  and  hopeful  he  could  get. 

At  this  time  he  began  to  manifest  that  interest  in 
politics  which  every  good  citizen,  of  whatever  calling, 
must  feel.  He  says — "  Our  election  for  Electors  of 
President  and  Vice-President  was  held  last  Saturday. 
The  republican  ticket,  composed  of  Judge  Goforth,  Gen- 
eral Massie  and  Mr.  Pritchard,  had  a  great  majority; 
and  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  it  will  carry 
almost  unanimously  throughout  the  State." 

This  was  the  second  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  just 
half  a  century  ago,  when  there  was  little  opposition. 


UNIVERSITY   OF  PHILADELPHIA.  65 

Ohio  was  almost  entirely  democratic — or  rather,  as  that 
party  always  preferred  to  call  itself,  republican.  The 
term  "democrat,"  being  originally  givren  as  a  reproach, 
was  not  adopted  by  the  republican  party,  but  has  been 
revived  in  recent  years,  as  a  nom  de  guerre,  by  political 
leaders,  for  popular  effect.  The  Western  people,  and 
especially  those  of  Kentucky,  where  Dr.  Drake  was 
reared,  were  generally  supporters  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and 
the  sentiments  of  that  party  were  early  impressed  on  ills 
mind. 

When  the  summer  of  1805  arrived,  our  young  physi- 
cian— either  from  the  effect  produced  by  the  writings  of 
Dr.  Kush,  or  from  the  impulses  of  an  ambitious  spirit, 
or  perhaps  the  graver  advice  of  elders  in  his  profes- 
sion— had  conceived  the  idea  of  taking  lectures  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  at  Philadelphia.  This  now 
celebrated  institution  was  then  in  its  youth,  though,  for- 
tunately for  him,  favored  with  the  instructions  of  those 
able  and  learned  men  whose  reputations  have  since  given 
it  a  wide  renown.  To  go  to  the  medical  school  of  Phila- 
delphia, at  that  day,  was  literally  to  be  "brought  up  at 
the  feet  of  Gamaliel,"  and  be  enlightened  and  quickened 
by  a  genius  and  philosophy  wrhich  have  been  neither 
dimmed  nor  eclipsed  during  the  lapse  of  half  a  century. 
Rush,  Wistar,  Barton  and  Physic  were  among  the 
lecturers,  and  the  intuitive  perceptions  of  Drake  were 
quick  to  see  the  advantage,  if  not  necessity,  of  such 
instructions  to  one  wrhose  early  education  was  deficient. 
How  he  found  the  means  to  accomplish  his  desire,  I  am 
not  informed,  but  his  private  correspondence  shows  that 
it  was  with  extreme  difficulty  he  met  his  expenses. 
Something  he  undoubtedly  received  from  his  partner- 
ship with  Dr.  Goforth,  whom  he  mentions  in  one  of  his 
6 


66  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

letters,  as  having  promised  a  remittance.  Something 
also  he  got  from  his  father,  and  he  received  some  tem- 
porary advances  from  a  Mr.  Taylor,  of  whom  he  always 
spoke  with  gratitude  and  kindness.  The  struggles  of 
the  preceding  year  we  have  seen,  and  now  they  were 
scarcely  less,  though  he  had  begun  to  realize  a  little 
from  his  professional  labors,  and  looked  forward  with 
hope  to  a  better  future. 

At  this  period  occurred  one  of  those  incidents  so  char- 
acteristic of  his  kind  friend,  Dr.  Goforth,  and  so  peculiar 
in  his  own  history.  When  preparing  for  the  Univer- 
sity, Dr.  G.  presented  him  with  an  "  autograph  diploma, 
setting  forth  his  ample  attainments  in  all  the  branches 
of  the  profession,  and  subscribing  himself,  as  he  really 
was, '  Surgeon-General  of  the  First  Division  of  Ohio  Mi- 
litia.5 "  This  was  undoubtedly  the  first  medical  diploma 
ever  granted  in  the  interior  valley  of  North  America. 
"I  cherish  it,"  said  he,  "as  a  memorial  of  olden  time, 
and  still  more,  as  the  tribute  of  a  heart  so  generous  as 
to  set  aside  the  dictates  of  judgment  on  the  qualifica- 
tions of  the  stripling  to  whom  it  was  spontaneously 
given.  By  its  authority  I  practiced  medicine  for  the 
next  eleven  years,  at  which  time  it  was  corroborated  by 
another  from  the  University — the  first  ever  conferred, 
by  that  or  any  other  school,  on  a  Cincinnati  student."* 

Thus  armed  and  equipped,  if  not  according  to  law, 
yet  according  to  the  good  dispositions  of  his  friend,  the 
Surgeon-General,  he  proceeded  to  Philadelphia,  to  enjoy 
the  society  and  hear  the  living  voices  of  men  whom  he 
had  already  learned  to  admire  and  respect.  On  the  9th 
of  November,  1805,  he  arrived  at  Philadelphia,  and 

*  Discourse  before  the  Library  Association. 


UNIVERSITY  LIFE.  67 

took  his  lodgings  at  Mrs.  Brown's,  who  treated  him,  he 
said,  with  motherly  attention  and  kindness.  The  life  of 
a  medical  student  fifty  years  since  did  not  vary  in  its 
essential  features  from  that  of  such  a  student  now ;  but 
still  there  are  now  great  differences  in  the  studies,  man- 
ners, and  morals  of  individuals.  Drake  went  to  Phila- 
delphia for  instruction,  had  no  means  for  dissipation, 
and  no  disposition  for  it,  if  he  had.  His  funds  were  so 
scant  that  he  took  but  four  professors'  tickets,  which  he 
said,  speaking  of  their  cost,  were  the  least  he  could  get 
along  with,  and  most  of  the  students  took  more.  These 
tickets  were — 

Dr.  Rush,   on   Physic $2000 

Dr.  Woodhouse,  on  Chemistry 20  00 

Dr.  Wistar,  on  Anatomy 20  00 

Dr.  Physic,  on  Surgery .'..    10  00 

Amounting  to 70  00 

For  board  he  paid  $5  00  per  week,  which  included 
wood,  candles,  &c.  For  washing  he  paid  separately, 
about  fifty  cents  per  dozen.  In  this  there  is  less  varia- 
tion from  the  prices  of  the  present  day  than  we  might 
suppose.  There  were  six  students  in  the  house,  two  in 
a  room,  and  his  room-mate  he  describes  as  a  fine  fellow, 
from  Brunswick,  New  Jersey.  In  his  first  letter,  he 
tells  his  father  that  the  money  he  brought  with  him  was 
just  sufficient  to  get  him  into  the  house,  leaving  him  a 
single  cent,  which  he  kept  as  a  pocket  piece. 

Thus  situated  at  Mrs.  Brown's,  attending  the  famous 
University,  under  the  auspices  of  Rush  and  Wistar,  he 
commenced  a  long  winter  of  earnest  and  faithful  study. 
His  habits  of  study,  at  this  time,  were  such  as  may  well 
be  set  before  others  as  an  example,  but  wyhich  I  fear  few 
have  the  strength  successfully  to  imitate.  He  says  that 


68  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

he  enjoyed  good  health,  studied  till  midnight,  and  rose 
before  daybreak.  He  economized  time  as  he  did  money, 
and  made  the  best  possible  use  of  the  advantages  which 
he  had  with  so  much  difficulty  acquired.  The  Univer- 
sity then  contained  about  two  hundred  students,  and  he 
said  the  lectures  proved  more  useful  to  him  than  he 
supposed.  "I  learn  all  I  can,"  he  writes;  "I  try  not 
to  lose  a  single  moment,  seeing  I  have  to  pay  so  dear 
for  leave  to  stay  in  the  city  a  few  months."  Of  course, 
with  this  intense  assiduity,  he  had  no  leisure  for  other 
things.  The  Sabbath  and  an  occasional  evening  afforded 
him  an  opportunity  of  looking  out  on  the  great  world. 
Of  these  occasions  he  says — "I  go  to  the  different 
churches  every  Sunday.  I  have  seen  superstition  and 
priestcraft  in  the  worship  of  the  Eoman  Catholics,  and 
have  also  seen  the  very  singular  and  silent  manner  in 
which  the  Quakers  worship.  The  play-house  has  been 
open  ever  since  the  last  of  November.  I  have  only 
been  once,  and  shall  only  go  once  more  while  I  stay 
here."  Among  the  few  acquaintances  he  made  there, 
was  that  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Barton,  who  treated  him 
with  considerable  attention,  although  he  was  not  regu- 
larly introduced  to  him.  Barton  was  a  distinguished 
naturalist,  and  the  tastes  of  Drake  in  early  life  were 
strongly  in  the  same  direction.  This  furnished  a  bond 
of  sympathy.  The  latter  had  found,  in  some  Indian 
mound,  a  piece  of  copper,  which  the  former  desired  to 
see,  and  this  piece  of  copper  formed  the  subject  of  seve- 
ral earnest  paragraphs  in  the  correspondence  of  Drake 
with  his  father,  showing  a  very  strong  desire  to  procure 
the  copper  for  his  friend  Barton.  Having  written  for 
it  several  times,  it  at  length  arrived,  and  he  had  the 
pleasure  of  being  assured  that  it  was  highly  valued. 


HIS   MANNER   OF   STUDY.  69 

In  the  month  of  March,  1806,  the  lectures  closed,  and 
Drake,  after  having  with  great  difficulty  obtained  funds 
enough  to  pay  his  expenses,  and  purchase  such  small 
stores  of  medicines  and  instruments  as  were  essential  to 
the  commencement  of  medical  practice,  returned  to  the 
West.  In  reviewing  the  period  of  his  student-life  in 
Philadelphia,  (short  as  it  was  in  time)  I  am  struck 
with  the  fine  example  it  offers  of  great  resolution,  self- 
denial,  and  industry,  in  struggling  for  and  attaining  a 
worthy  object.  Partly  by  his  own  practice  of  medicine, 
while  yet  a  youth ;  partly  by  borrowing,  and  partly 
from  his  father,  yet  in  straightened  circumstances,  he 
"was  able  to  obtain  the  small  sum  necessary  to  pay  for  his 
expenses  and  instruction  at  Philadelphia.  When  there, 
he  labored  like  one  who  was  conscious  that  life  was  a 
battle,  in  which  success  must  be  won  by  labor  and  effort. 
"I  attend  the  lectures,  and  then  study  till  two  in  the 
afternoon.  After  dinner  apply  myself  closely  to  book ; 
call  for  candles,  and  sit  up  till  one,  sometimes  two,  in 
the  morning.  This  is  my  constant  plan  of  conduct.  I 
only  sleep  six  hours  in  the  twenty-four,  and  when  awake, 
try  never  to  lose  a  single  moment.  I  had  not  money 
enough  to  take  a  ticket  at  the  Hospital  library,  and  there- 
fore had  to  borrow  books.  Several  of  my  fellow-stu- 
dents, Dr.  Dewees  and  Dr.  Barton,  were  very  kind  to 
me  in  this  way." 

Such  self-denial,  industry,  and  perseverance,  had  they 
been  less  successful,  should  nevertheless  command  our 
respect,  and  be  commended  to  others,  as  an  example 
worthy  to  be  followed. 


CHAPTERIII. 

1806 — 1810 — Practices  Medicine  at  Mayslick — Returns  to  Cincinnati 
— Society  there — Debating  Club — Marriage— Scientific  Pursuits — 
Publishes  Notices  of  Cincinnati — Pictures  of  Cincinnati — Earth- 
quakes. 

DOCTOR  DRAKE  returned  to  Cincinnati  about  the  1st 
of  April,  1806 ;  but  it  seems,  from  some  of  his  correspon- 
dence, did  not  immediately  settle  there.  He  had  always 
an  intense  desire  to  settle  near  his  parents,  or  in 
some  place  to  which  they  could  remove.  This  was  the 
subject  of  frequent  discussiqn  in  his  letters,  and  was  up 
to  his  final  settlement  in  Cincinnati,  left  in  some  doubt. 
At  any  rate,  it  appears  from  letters  to  Goforth,  that  he 
was  actually  practicing  at  Mayslick,  in  the  summer  of 
1806.  At  that  time  he  addressed  a  formal  proposition  of 
partnership  to  his  old  friend,  who,  we  have  seen,  was  now 
contemplating  his  departure  for  Louisiana.  Whether 
Goforth  thought  such  a  partnership  unnecessary,  as  he 
intended  going  soon,  or  for  what  other  reason,  I  do 
not  know,  but  the  connection  did  not  take  place ;  and 
in  the  following  spring,  ( 1807,)  his  old  preceptor  actually 
left  Cincinnati  for  New  Orleans.  It  had  been  intended 
and  arranged  from  the  first  mention  of  Gofortlrs  remo- 
val, that  Drake  should  succeed  him  in  his  practice. 
Accordingly,  on  the  10th  of  April,  1807,  we  find  him 
returned  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  took  his  brother  Benja- 
min, long  his  co-laborer  and  partner  in  works  of  enterprise 
and  business.  Benjamin  was  several  years  younger  than 
himself,  and  was  put  to  school  with  Henderson,  a  teacher, 
and  boarded  with  Mr.  Goforth,  who,  I  suppose,  to  be 
70 


RETURNS  TO  CINCINNATI.  71 

the  father  of  the  doctor,  and  a  member  of  the  first  State 
Convention.  The  doctor  boarded  at  Mrs.  Willis's,  who 
kept  a  fashionable  hotel  near  the  corner  of  Second  or 
'Columbia  street,  and  Main.  He  hired  part  of  a  small 
stable  of  Dugan  for  his  horse,  and  mentioned  that  hay 
was  twenty  dollars  a  ton,  and  corn  half  a  dollar  a  bushel ; 
facts  which  I  state  here  to  show  that  prices  of  domestic  pro- 
duce, which  are  now  esteemed  very  high,  were  often  paid  in 
the  early  settlement  of  the  country.  The  cause  is  the  same 
a  deficiency  in  the  supply  as  proportioned  to  the  demand. 
Two  or  three  days  after  his  return,  he  mentions  that 
he  has  had  two  patients,  and  remarks :  "  The  town  I  am 
told  by  some  of  the  physicians  here  is  very  healthy  at 
this  time.  How  I  shall  succeed  cannot  yet  be  deter- 
mined. Several  persons  of  respectability  have  called 
and  assured  me  that  I  shall  have  their  patronage  and 
support.  Upon  the  whole,  appearances  are  rather  flat- 
tering." Appearances  did  not  deceive  him.  In  this 
summer  his  practice  increased  rapidly  among  the  best 
class  of  patients,  and  he  took  his  stand  as  one  of  the 
most  promising  young  men  in  the  first  circle  of  society. 
He  seemed,  at  any  rate,  to  have  been  satisfied  with  his 
present  success ;  for  he  soon  entertained  thoughts  of  mar- 
riage, and  enlarged  his  sphere  of  scientific  studies  and 
ambitious  pursuits.  This  was  a  remarkable  era  to  him, 
and,  as  it  gave  a  color  and  direction  to  his  after  life,  I 
shall  sketch  something  of  his  associations,  studies,  and 
habits,  at  that  time.  Cincinnati  was  then  emerging  out 
of  a  village  existence  into  that,  not  of  a  city,  but  of  a 
town.  In  1806  it  was  but  a  small  and  dirty  county 
town.  But  about  that  time  commenced  a  career  of 
growth  and  success,  which  is  unequaled  in  history. 
Such  success,  notwithstanding  all  natural  advances,  is 


72 


LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 


always  due,  as  much  to  the  mind  and  energy  of  its 
citizens,  as  to  all  physical  causes.  If  we  look  to  the 
young  men  then  associated  with  Dr.  Drake,  and  to  the 
older  citizens,  whom  I  have  already  mentioned,  it  will 
be  found  that  no  young  place  in  America  has  gathered 
to  itself  a  greater  amount  of  personal  energy  and  intel- 
lectual ability.  I  have  named  among  the  pioneers  the 
St.  Glairs,  Symmes,  Burnets,  Ganos,  Findleys,  Goforths, 
and  Oliver  M.  Spencer.  In  the  class  of  young  men  about 
1806-7-8,  were  John  M'Lean  (now  Supreme  Judge); 
Thomas  S.  Jessup  (now  Quarter  Master  General); 
Joseph  G.  Totten  (now  General  of  Engineers) ;  Ethan 
A.  Brown  (afterwards  Governor,  Judge,  and  Canal  Com- 
missioner) ;  George  Cutler  (now  Colonel  in  the  Army) ; 
Mr.  Sill  (since  Member  of  Congress,  from  Erie,  Pa.) ; 
Joseph  Crane  (afterwards  Judge) ;  Judge  Torrence,  Dr. 
Drake,  Nicholas  Longworth,  Peyton  S.  Symmes,  David 
Wade,  Samuel  Peny,  Joseph  Pierce — a  poet  of  decided 
talent ;  Mr.  Armstrong,  and  John  F.  Mansfield.*  The 
last  two  died  early ;  the  former  a  young  man  of  great 
ability,  and  the  latter  of  distinguished  scientific  attain- 
ments and  high  promise.  Such  a  circle  of  young  men 
would  grace  any  rising  town,  and  impart  to  its  mind  and 
character  a  tone  of  energy  and  a  spirit  of  ambition. 

About  this  time,  (and  considered  by  its  members  one 
of  their  greatest  means  of  improvement,)  was  formed 
a  debating  society,  which  continued  for  several  years. 
Most  of  the  persons  I  have  named  belonged  to  this  so- 
ciety. At  each  meeting,  the  subject  was  chosen  and  the 
speakers  appointed  for  the  next  discussion;  and,  as  at 
that  time  there  were  many  important  and  interesting 

*  I  do  not  pretend  to  give  a  list  of  all  the  prominent  young  men  at 
that  time,  but  only  those  of  whom  I  have  some  knowledge. 


THE   DEBATING   CLUB.  73 

public  questions,  and  the  members  belonged  to  all  the 
professions  and  pursuits  of  society,  we  may  well  suppose 
that  these  discussions  were  really  improving — at  once 
exciting,  and  developing  the  intellectual  activities.  At 
that  time,  Dr.  Drake  says,*  u  I  can  recollect  no  asso- 
ciation for  mutual  improvement,  except  this  primitive, 
old-fashioned  organization,  which  I  really  think  has  done 
much  good  in  the  world." 

Among  the  amusements  of  this  association  was  private 
theatricals,  the  first  probably  got  up  in  Cincinnati.  In  the 
performers  was  Dr.  Drake,  with  Totten,  Mansfield,  Sill, 
and  other  young  men.  The  corps  being  entirely  defi- 
cient in  females,  the  young  men  had  to  assume  both  the 
parts  and  dress  of  the  female  characters.  The  perform- 
ance took  place  in  a  large  barn,  and  is  said  to  have 
gone  off  with  great  eclat.  If  the  actors  had  not  the  ad- 
vantage of  music  and  paraphernalia,  which  attended  the 
performances  of  Talma  and  Garrick,  they  were  quite  as 
successful  in  exciting  the  laughter,  and  promoting  the 
amusement  of  their  audiences ;  and,  as  this  village  play- 
ing was  unattended  with  any  of  the  stimulants  to  vice 
and  dissipation,  so  disgraceful  to  modern  theatres,  it  may 
be  placed  to  the  account  of  what  Johnson  called  the  com- 
mon stock  of  harmless  amusements.  With  young  Drake, 
this  sort  of  amusement  was  a  mere  by-play,  in  the  great 
highway  of  life,  which  he  was  now  learning  to  tread 
with  sure  and  steady  steps,  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge, 
of  usefulness,  and  honorable  distinction.  I  cannot  learn 
that  he  engaged  in  this  amusement  more  than  once, 
while  hours,  early  and  late,  usually  given  by  others  to 
slumber  or  society,  were  by  him  industriously  employed 

*  Discourse  before  the  Medical  Library  Association. 

7 


74  LIFE   OF  DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

in  the  study  or  practice  of  his  profession.  Surrounded 
as  he  was  by  this  circle  of  intellectual  and  aspiring  young 
men,  yet  such  was  the  firmness  and  energy  of  his  charac- 
ter, that  he  exercised  great  influence  upon  his  associates, 
and  left  enduring  impressions  on  their  minds.  One  of  the 
few  survivors  of  that  circle,  since  eminent  in  the  public 
service,  says,  "  I  should  think  it  hardly  more  than  a  year, 
that  I  had  the  great  advantage  of  his  close  acquaintance. 
It  was  to  me  of  infinite  advantage ;  for  I  owe  to  his  ex- 
ample and  conversation,  at  a  critical  period,  much  of  the 
little  in  my  tastes  and  acquirements  that  give  nie  any 
satisfaction  with  myself.  If  there  were  few  intimate 
friends,  there  was  a  decided  influence  upon  a  circle  of 
young  men  drawn  together  by  strong  sympathy  with  his 
leading  tastes.  This  influence  led,  for  example,  to  the 
establishment  of  a  debating  society,  which  was  main- 
tained with  spirit  and  success." 

It  appears  from  this  testimony  that  he  had  already  ac- 
quired something  of  that  literary,  or  rather  scientific 
taste,  which  he  possessed  through  life,  and  that  he  was 
preparing  in  the  debating  society  for  that  fluency  and 
readiness  in  discussions  and  lectures,  for  which  he  was 
afterwards  distinguished. 

About  this  time,  and  probably  by  association  with  these 
young  men,  he  was  led  to  that  acquaintance  which  ter- 
minated in  his  marriage.  Two  of  his  friends,  Mr.  Totten 
and  Mr.  John  F.  Mansfield  were  relatives,  and  living 
in  the  house  of  Colonel  Jared  Mansfield,  then  Surveyor- 
General  of  the  United  States  for  the  Northwestern  Terri- 
tory. The  family  resided  then  in  the  house  built  by  Col- 
onel Ludlow,  and  known  as  "Ludlow's  Station."  Drake, 
in  common  with  several  young  men  of  Cincinnati,  be- 
came a  visitor  at  the  Station,  and  there  was  soon  gathered 
a  delightful  society  of  agreeable  and  intellectual  people. 


HARRIET   SISSON.  75 

It  was  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  1807,  when  rides 
into  the  country  and  walks  in  the  woods,  were  pleasant 
to  towns-people,  while  it  was  equally  agreeable  to  those 
in  the  country  to  be  surprised  and  refreshed  with  the 
arrival  of  friends  and  the  news  of  the  day.  The 
"  Station  had  a  large  garden,  an  extensive  orchard,  and 
a  green  lawn,  leading  down  to  Mill  Creek.  On  the 
banks  of  the  stream  the  lofty  sycamore  stretched  forth 
its  umbrageous  arms,  while  the  forests  around  re-echoed 
with  the  song  of  birds.  There  was  just  enough  of  cul- 
tivation visible,  and  of  civilized  sounds  heard,  to  show 
that  man  was  encroaching  on  the  solitude  of  nature. 
The  young  people  would  walk  out  over  the  lawn,  and 
through  the  forests  unmindful  of  snakes  and  catamounts, 
although  neither  were  uncommon.  There  is  a  sympa- 
thy between  youth  and  the  freshness  and  wildness  of 
uncultivated  nature ;  and  in  this  spring  time  of  both, 
and  in  this  happy  and  lively  circle,  that  sympathy  was 
brought  out  in  its  greatest  strength.  Eural  rides  and 
woodland  walks  were  succeeded  by  evenings,  flowing 
with  cheerful  conversation,  restrained  by  no  fashionable 
conventional,  and  clouded  by  no  remembered  cares. 
They  walked 

Where'er  the  oak's  thick  branches  stretch 
A  broader,  browner  shade  ; 
Where'er  the  rude  and  moss-grown  beech 
O'ercanopied  the  glade. 

Among  the  members  of  Colonel  Mansfield's  family 
was  Harriet  Sisson,  a  sister's  daughter,  then  in  her  nine- 
teenth year.  She  was  a  person  of  much  native  grace, 
refined  tastes,  ardent  temperament,  of  quick  intelligence, 
but  without  a  fashionable  education.  In  one  word,  she 
was  a  child  of  nature,  rather  than  of  art.  Such  a  per- 
son, Dr.  Drake,  possessed  of  much  the  same  native 


76  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

character,  would  at  any  time  be  pleased  with ;  and  under 
the  circumstances  in  which  they  met,  it  was  quite  natural 
they  should  become  attached  to  each  other. 

As  the  Doctor  had  rapidly  enlarged  his  practice,  there 
was  nothing  to  prevent  their  union,  and  the  marriage 
took  place  at  Ludlow's  Station,  in  the  autumn  of  1807. 
Soon  after  they  went  to  housekeeping,  on  Sycamore  street, 
in  a  two  story  frame  building,  between  Third  and  Fourth 
streets,  on  the  east  side.  A  portion  of  this  building  is 
still  remaining,  though  there  are  very  few  of  the  houses 
of  that  period  left.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Drake  were  admira- 
bly suited  to  one  another  in  their  genial  dispositions,  their 
buoyant  spirits,  their  love  of  nature,  and  their  ambitious 
aspirations.  Their  married  life  continued  eighteen  years, 
attended  with  a  large  share  of  human  vicissitudes,  and 
not  a  little  of  trouble  and  adversity ;  yet,  in  the  whole 
period,  with  a  mutual  confidence  and  devotion  seldom 
equaled,  so  much  so  as  to  seem  quite  remarkable  to  those 
who  observed  it.  Mrs.  Drake,  with  quick  perceptions 
of  her  husband's  natural  talents,  and  ambitious  for  his 
future  distinction,  ardently  assisted  him  in  all  his  efforts, 
and  exercised  much  influence  over  his  future  career. 
Thus  much  I  anticipate,  that  the  narrative  may  not  be  in- 
terrupted, of  that  journey  which  they  pursued  together. 

Dr.  Drake,  now  settled  down  both  as  citizen  and  physi- 
cian, entered  the  active  and  aspiring  period  of  human  life. 
Yet,  he  was  only  twenty-two  years  of  age — when  most 
men  are  yet  in  their  pupilage,  or  just  emerging  from  their 
apprenticeships.  His  youth,  however,  was  forced  forward, 
not  by  artificial  means,  but  by  native  vigor  in  part,  and 
perhaps  as  much  by  that  great  master  of  success — ne- 
cessity. The  latter  furnished  the  motive,  while  the  former 
supplied  the  power  of  pushing  forward  in  his  career. 


BOTANY  AND  GEOLOGY   OF  THE  COUNTBY.  77 

I  have  described  the  manner  in  which,  by  early  obser- 
vations upon  nature,  by  the  writings  of  Dr.  Hush,  by  his 
studies  at  Philadelphia,  and  by  his  association  with  in- 
tellectual men,  he  had  acquired  a  taste  for  literary  pur- 
suits, for  natural  science,  and  for  original  thought  and 
research.  The  time  had  now  come  in  which  he  could 
indulge  his  tastes  and  direct  his  own  studies.  In  doing 
this  his  medical  practice  and  his  family  associations 
greatly  aided ;  for  they  led  him  through  rides  and  walks 
where  he  studied  the  botany  and  geology  of  the  country. 
To  Ludlow  Station  he  was,  of  course,  a  frequent  visitor. 
There  he  found  the  first  materials  for  his  meterological 
observations,  and  as  he  rode  to  and  from  it  in  his  gig, 
would  stop  to  pick  up  some  new  botanical  specimens, 
not  yet  added  to  his  collection,  or  break  off  from  the 
limestone  of  the  hills  some  interesting  fossil  of  that  vast 
number,  which  have  since  excited  the  attention  of  geolo- 
gists. Some  of  his  friends  shared  with  him  that  ardent 
love  of  nature,  which  induced  them  to  watch  all  her 
phenomena.  Together  they  would  admire  the  many- 
colored  foliage  of  autumn  forests ;  together  listen  to  the 
rustling  winds,  or  the  music  of  birds ;  and  together 
gaze  from  some  rising  knoll  upon  the  setting  of  a  sum- 
mer's sun,  gloriously  enthroned  in  his  canopy  of  shining 
clouds.  These  were  scenes  which  suited  well  his  poetic 
temperament,  in  which  the  ideal  and  the  real  were 
happily  blended. 

At  this  time  he  began  those  researches  which  made 
him  a  writer  and  a  savan,  and  which,  though  extra- 
professional,  conferred  upon  him  a  broad  reputation,  and 
upon  his  country  a  great  service.  The  seven  years  suc- 
ceeding his  marriage  were  devoted,  in  addition  to  the 
constant  practice  of  his  profession,  to  those  inquiries  and 


78  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL  DKAKE. 

investigations,  which  resulted  in  the  production  of  his 
"Picture  of  Cincinnati" — a  work  of  great  value,  and 
widely  known. 

Among  the  researches  then  made  by  him,  was  an 
examination  of  the  antiquities  of  Cincinnati.  At  this 
time,  amidst  the  splendid  structures  and  busy  marts  of 
this  modern  city,  the  stranger  would  seek  in  vain  for  the 
antiquities  of  either  a  civilized  or  a  barbarous  people. 
Except  for  such  labors  and  descriptions  as  his,  there 
would  be  no  evidence  of  their  existence,  either  in  fact  or 
history.  A  short  period  of  time  has  swept  them  from 
the  earth,  and  in  the  memory  of  a  people  who  came  but 
yesterday,  there  can  be  no  traditions  of  the  past.  It 
is  a  fact,  however,  that  on  the  site  of  the  present  Cin- 
cinnati, were  some  of  the  most  remarkable  ruins  of 
the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Ohio ;  such  ruins  were 
uniformly  found  on  the  best  sites  for  towns,  and  the 
modern  cities  of  the  Ohio  valley  almost  invariably  re- 
place and  represent  those  of  antiquity.  On  the  site  of 
Cincinnati,  and  near  the  center,  was  one  of  those  exten- 
sive elliptical  parapets,  so  characteristic  of  the  ancient 
works.  From  this  were  several  embankments,  connect- 
ing it  with  the  river,  and  with  several  mounds.  The 
largest  of  these,  twenty-seven  feet  in  height,  and  four 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  circumference,  was  opened, 
and  its  contents  accurately  noted  by  Dr.  Drake.  The 
remains  were  such  as  have  been  found  in  nearly  all  these 
mounds  ;  some  rude  sculptures  of  birds  and  fishes  ;  some 
bits  of  lead,  copper,  coal,  and  carved  stones  ;  and  some 
human  bones,  more  or  less  decayed.  Dr.  Drake  found 
several  skulls,  and  examined  them  carefully  according  to 
the  directions  of  Blumenbach,  and  compared  them  with 
the  crania  of  the  Wyandot  Indians.  The  result  was, 


ANTIQUITIES    OF   OHIO.  79 

that  there  is  no  great  difference  between  the  human  cra- 
nia in  the  ancient  mounds  and  those  of  the  Wyandots, 
one  of  the  principal  original  tribes  of  the  northwestern 
Indians.  In  some  observations,  subsequently  made  upon 
this  subject,  he  appears  to  coincide  with  Dr.  Barton,  in 
the  opinion  that  the  ancient  works  in  the  valley  of  the 
Ohio  were  made  by  the  same  race  of  people  discovered 
here,  but  that  they  once  had  a  higher  civilization,  which 
has  since  degenerated.  With  one  modification,  this  is 
undoubtedly  the  result  to  which  all  inquiry  and  observa- 
tion has  led.  It  was  not  a  degeneracy  of  civilization,  so 
much  as  a  difference  in  degree,  among  the  various 
tribes  of  the  same  great  race,  which  caused  the  diver- 
sities  in  art,  observable  between  the  ruins  of  Mexico  anc) 
Ohio ;  between  the  ancient  and  the  modern  Indians. 
Ethnology  has  distinctly  traced  them  all  up  to  an  Asiatic 
origin,  and  a  common  stock.* 

It  was  the  habit  of  Dr.  Drake  to  be  minutely  accurate 
in  his  observations,  and  complete  in  his  investigations. 
Hence  it  is,  that  although  these  researches  were  made 
when  he  was  quite  young,  and  his  observations  were 
compressed  into  a  few  pages,  they  yet  remain  a  valuable 
summary  of  nearly  all  we  know  on  the  character  of 
"Western  Antiquities,  and  the  conclusions  to  which  we 
can  justly  arrive. 

His  researches  into  the  botany  of  the  Miami  valley, 
made  at  this  period,  were  also  valuable.  If  not  full  in 
detail,  they  yet  comprised  nearly  all  the  knowledge  on 
this  subject  which  can  be  generally  useful.  He  made  a 
catalogue  of  these  trees,  plants,  and  roots,  with  an 
account  of  their  qualities,  which  were  suitable  for  use 

*  See  "  Pickering's  Races  of  Men." 


80  LIFE  OF   DR.    DANIEL  DRAKE. 

in  the  materia  medica.  His  descriptions  in  this  depart- 
ment were  long  the  only  ones  which  were  known  to  the 
public  or  the  medical  profession. 

In  the  same  manner  he  inquired  carefully  into  the 
meteorology  of  the  Miami  valley,  and,  except  the 
French  traveler,  Volney,  (who  was  here  a  few  years  be- 
fore this  period,)  was  the  first,  I  believe,  to  make  any 
systematic  observations  on  the  characteristics  of  this 
climate.  In  this  matter  he  was  greatly  assisted  by  the 
meteorological  tables  prepared  at  Ludlow  Station,  in  the 
office  of  his  friend,  Colonel  Mansfield.  These,  however, 
only  extended  to  1809,  after  which  he  continued  a  series 
of  observations  on  the  wind,  rain,  and  temperature,  in 
Cincinnati.  To  these  he  added  those  collected  by  Gov- 
ernor Sargent,  and  they  were  all  compared  with  those 
made  on  the  Atlantic  at  Philadelphia,  and  other  places. 

In  the  whole  range  of  descriptive  Natural  History, 
the  researches  of  Dr.  Drake,  between  1807  and  1813, 
are  not  only  among  the  earliest,  but  the  most  valuable, 
which  have  ever  been  made  in  this  part  of  the  Ohio 
valley.  They  still  contain  the  substance  of  all  that  we 
know  on  the  subject.  Numerous  writers,  and  some 
geological  reports,  have  since  enlarged  the  details  of  our 
information,  and  aggregated  the  series  of  facts ;  but  they 
have  given  us  no  really  new  ideas  on  either  the  struc- 
ture, the  vegetation,  the  climate,  or  the  antiquities  of 
the  country.  These  we  owe  to  the  pioneer  settlers  and 
travelers,  such  as  Sargent,  Turner,  Goforth,  Volney, 
and  others,  but  chiefly  to  the  diligent  inquiries  and 
researches  of  Drake,  who  was  in  love  with  nature,  and 
courted  her,  not  so  much  for  the  honor  she  conferred  as 
for  the  charms  she  possessed. 

In  1810,  he  published  a  large  pamphlet,  entitled 


NOTICES  OF  CINCINNATI.  81 

<c  Notices  of  Cincinnati,  its  Topography,  Climate  and 
Diseases."  This  was  the  first  fruit  of  his  observations 
and  researches  on  those  subjects.  A  small  edition  only 
was  published,  and  distributed  chiefly  among  his  medi- 
cal friends.  It  was  not  confined,  however,  to  them,  but 
attracted  the  attention  of  strangers  and  scientific  gentle- 
men seeking  information  upon  the  Ohio  valley.  Indeed, 
there  was  no  other  source  of  information,  except  Yol- 
ney's  Travels,  and  those  of  the  notorious  Ashe,  whose 
obvious  fictions  and  libels  destroyed  the  credibility  of 
his  descriptions.  The  "Notices"  of  Cincinnati  were 
invaluable  to  travelers  and  scientific  inquirers.  Accord- 
ingly, he  received  applications  for  the  work,  and  in 
consequence  of  these,  prepared — what  was  published  in 
1815 — his  more  elaborate  and  complete  "Picture  of 
Cincinnati  and  the  Miami  country."  The  preparation 
of  these  works  was  going  on  during  the  whole  period  I 
am  considering — from  1808  to  1815.  The  materials 
supplied  by  his  study  of  botany,  geology,  antiquities 
and  meteorology,  his  reading  of  scientific  travelers  in 
America,  his  practice  of  medicine,  and  his  social  com- 
munion with  the  pioneers  and  with  the  most  intelligent 
people,  were  all  used  to  prepare  this  work,  which  was 
almost  entirely  original.  That  part  of  it  which  relates 
to  the  Natural  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  Miami 
country  still  remains  the  best  account  we  have  of  them. 
The  features  and  productions  of  nature,  as  he  depicted 
them,  are  still  the  same,  testifying  to  the  accuracy  of  his 
portrait. 

As  the  "  Picture  of  Cincinnati "  is  now  a  rare  book, 
and  will  probably  never  be  reprinted,  I  will  notice  its 
general  contents,  and  some  specific  events  of  interest 
which  it  described. 


82  LIFE  OF  DK.   DANIEL  DKAKE. 

In  the  first  chapter  he  gives  the  Geography  and  His- 
tory of  the  Miami  country,  its  population,  productions 
and  rivers,  with  the  titles  and  prices  of  lands.  His 
analysis  of  population  is  very  acute,  and  he  predicts,  in 
1814,  that  Ohio  will  have  492,000  in  1820 ;  but  he  says 
that,  as  this  will  "  not  be  considered  probable,"  he  will 
give  the  reasons  for  his  opinion.  In  fact,  Ohio  had,  in 
1820,  580,000,  or  nearly  100,000  more  than  he  pre- 
dicted. He  predicts  the  ultimate  growth  of  Ohio 
beyond  any  of  her  Southern  neighbors,  and  gives  the 
reasons,  which  have  really  proved  effective  to  that  end — 
the  great  richness  of  its  soil,  the  absence  of  slavery, 
and  the  great  body  of  public  lands  offered  for  sale.  It 
is  curious  to  see  that  the  most  sanguine  views  of  the 
growth  and  prosperity  of  this  State  have  been  out- 
stripped by  the  reality,  and  the  visions  of  fancy  have 
been  obscured  by  the  fulfillment  of  history. 

The  second  chapter  treated  of  Physical  Topography, 
in  which  were  included  the  situation  of  Cincinnati,  the 
geology,  botany,  materia  medica,  and  climate.  This 
part  is  really  a  philosophical  treatise  on  the  physics  of 
the  Miami  valley,  and  may  be  read  with  great  advan- 
tage at  the  present  time.  His  collection  of  facts  are  yet 
valuable,  while  the  conclusions  at  which  he  arrived 
have  been  un impeached  by  subsequent  testimony.  He 
noted  the  general  course  of  the  winds,  and  dispelled 
some  of  the  popular  illusions  in  regard  to  the  humidity 
and  heat  of  the  Ohio  climate.  It  is  clearly  established 
that  both  heat  and  humidity  in  this  climate  are  not  sen- 
sibly different  from  what  they  are  in  the  same  latitude 
and  the  same  elevation  in  the  Atlantic  States. 

In  the  same  chapter  is  an  interesting  acount  of  storms 
prevalent  in  Ohio.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  of 


NOTICES   OF  CINCINNATI — STORMS.  83 

these  he  has  particularly  described.  Of  this  I  have  a 
faint  recollection,  especially  of  its  upturning  fences,  and 
taking  off  the  roofs  of  houses.  It  occurred  on  Sunday, 
the  28th  of  May,  1809,  and  was  unequaled  in  violence 
by  any  hurricane  which  has  occurred  in  this  vicinity 
within  the  memory  of  this  generation.  The  general 
features  of  this  storm  were  thus  described  by  Dr.  Drake : 

"During  the  forenoon,  while  the  lower  clouds  were 
passing  rapidly  to  the  north,  the  upper  were  moving 
with  equal  velocity  to  the  east,  indicating  a  superior 
current,  which  traversed  the  course  of  the  south  wind  at 
right  angles.  Before  twelve  o'clock  both  strata  of 
clouds  were  propelled  eastwardly,  and  soon  after  the 
west  wind  was  perceptible  at  the  earth's  surface.  By 
three-quarters  past  one  o'clock,  the  sky  was  very  much 
obscured,  and  a  narrow  whirlwind,  a  tornado  of  great 
force,  swept  impetuously  across  the  eastern  part  of  the 
town.  It  demolished  a  few  old  buildings,  threw  down 
the  tops  of  several  chimneys,  and  overturned  many  fruit 
and  shade  trees.  The  people  in  the  centre  of  the  town 
had  scarcely  time  to  view  this  alarming  operation  before 
their  own  houses  were  shaken  to  the  foundations  by 
another  gale  of  equal  violence.  This  was  immediately 
succeeded  by  a  third,  which  traversed  the  west  part  of 
the  town  with  augmented  fury." 

To  this  description  I  can  add  an  incident,  which  made 
a  strong  impression  on  my  mind,  when  a  small  boy, 
witnessing  that  terrific  scene.  In  the  midst  of  the 
square  now  bounded  by  Broadway,  Fourth,  and  Pike 
streets,  and  which  then  was  nothing  but  an  open  plain, 
stood  the  house  formerly  occupied  by  Winthrop  Sar- 
gent, Secretary  of  the  Northwestern  Territory.  The 
roof  of  that  house  was  seized  by  the  tornado,  and 


84:  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

carried  off  as  if  a  mere  sheet  of  paper,  and  at  that  mo- 
ment I  saw  a  woman  with  a  child  in  her  arms  rush  out 
of  the  door.  For  a  moment  she  seemed  seized  by  the 
wind  and  lifted  from  the  earth ;  but  happily  the  force  of 
the  storm  had  passed,  and  she  made  her  escape. 

A  few  days  after  this,  we  were  traversing,  in  a  car- 
riage, parts  of  Warren  and  Clinton  counties,  where  the 
road  crossed  the  track  of  the  tornado,  and  we  could 
witness,  at  leisure,  the  evidences  of  its  tremendous 
force.  For  a  great  breadth,  and  miles  in  length,  the 
mighty  forest  was  prostrated,  as  if  by  the  breath  of  Om- 
nipotence. Oaks,  through  whose  aged  tops  the  winds  of 
centuries  had  whistled,  were  upturned  root  and  branch, 
and  lay  upon  the  earth  shorn  of  all  their  honors. 

Dr.  Drake  says  this  storm  ascended  the  Alleghanies 
in  the  afternoon,  and  left  the  continent  at  nine  o'clock 
in  the  evening.  It  was  formed  in  the  western  parts  of 
Ohio  and  Kentucky,  moved  about  eighty  miles  an  hour, 
and  was  probably  greatly  increased  in  power  and 
velocity  by  the  union  of  two  winds — from  the  South  and 
West — which,  united,  moved  to  the  northeast  with  un- 
precedented force. 

The  third  chapter  of  the  "Picture"  relates  to  Civil 
Topography,  and  contains  a  minute  description  of  Cin- 
cinnati— its  buildings,  institutions,  and  society. 

The  fourth  chapter  contains  the  Political  Topography  or 
political  and  judicial  organization  of  the  Miami  country. 

The  fifth  chapter  relates  to  the  Medical  Topography. 
This  is  interesting  for  its  description  of  the  diseases  then 
prevalent,  of  miasmatic  influences,  and  of  mineral  springs. 

The  remainder  of  the  work  is  occupied  with  an 
account  of  Western  Antiquities — of  which  I  have 
already  spoken— and  of  the  earthquakes  of  1811-12. 


NOTICES  OF  CINCINNATI — EARTHQUAKES.  85 

The  last  were  among  the  most  interesting  natural  phe- 
nomena which  ever  occurred  in  this  region — especially 
so,  as  the  great  mass  of  inhabitants  hardly  know  of 
their  existence,  and  now  scarcely  suspect  that  such 
things  are  possible.  As  they  are  minutely  recorded  by 
Dr.  Drake,  and  are  strongly  impressed  on  my  own 
memory,  I  will  briefly  mention  the  leading  facts. 

In  the  morning  of  the  16th  of  December,  1811,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Miami  country,  and  especially  of 
Cincinnati  and  its  neighborhood,  were  awoke  from  a 
sound  sleep,  at  about  three  o'clock,  by  a  shaking  of 
their  houses,  and  by  rumbling  noises  which  seemed 
like  distant  thunder.  To  each  one  the  phenomenon 
was  alike  unknown  and  awful.  In  the  country,  the 
animals  soon  began  to  shriek,  and  all  nature  seemed  to 
feel  the  shock  of  a  common  evil,  and  the  dread  of  a 
common  danger.  The  most  intelligent  persons  soon 
discovered  it  to  be  an  earthquake ;  but  this  discovery 
by  no  means  allayed  the  alarm.  On  the  contrary,  as 
earthquakes  were  never  known  before  in  this  region, 
there  was  nothing  to  reason  upon,  and  full  scope  for  the 
imagination.  Pictures  of  the  earth  opening  to  devour 
its  inhabitants,  of  burning  lava  bursting  forth,  of  yawn- 
ing gulfs,  and,  to  many,  of  a  general  destruction  and  a 
general  doom,  rose  to  the  visions  of  the  affrighted 
people,  filling  them  with  fears  and  anxieties. 

The  shock  of  the  16th  of  December  was  so  violent 
that  it  shook  the  chimneys  of  the  several  houses.  In 
the  midst  of  the  general  alarm  there  was  some  amuse- 
ment; and  the  buoyant  spirits  of  young  and  happy 
people  will  often  extract  something  pleasant,  even  from 
the  most  fearful  circumstances.  Mrs.  Willis's  Colum- 
bian Inn  was  a  sort  of  fashionable  hotel,  where  many  of 


86  LIFE   OF  DK.    DANIEL   DKAKE. 

the  gay  people  of  the  town  boarded.  I  remember  to 
have  heard  a  good  deal  of  laughter  at  the  odd  and 
curious  appearance,  and  grouping  of  maids  and  madams, 
bachelors  and  husbands,  as  they  rushed  into  the  street, 
tumultuous,  in  midnight  drapery.  But  this  cheerfulness 
did  not  last  long ;  for  the  earthquakes  continued  during 
the  winter,  and  although  they  were  better  understood, 
they  were  not  the  less  dreaded.  This  common  fear,  and 
indeed  the  common  necessity  of  being  prepared  for  any 
event,  had  a  great  influence  in  destroying  the  arti- 
ficiality of  society,  and  bringing  friends  and  neighbors 
together.  Many  families  had  their  valuables  carefully 
packed  up,  that  they  might  take  a  rapid  flight,  in  case 
of  the  destruction  of  their  houses,  or  chasms  in  the 
earth,  which  would  render  their  departure  necessary. 
As  the  shocks  of  an  earthquake  were  generally  preceded 
by  signs  of  their  approach,  such  as  rumbling  sounds  and 
a  peculiar  atmosphere,  families  would  often  sit  up  late 
at  night,  in  dread  of  a  night  shock,  and  neighbors  and 
friends  would  assemble  together,  to  make  the  time  pass 
more  pleasantly,  especially  to  the  young,  by  cheerful 
conversation.  In  this  manner  social  intercourse  and 
friendly  feeling  wyas  promoted,  and,  as  in  other  afflictions 
of  Providence,  good  was  still  educed  from  evil. 

The  scientific  observations  and  explanations  upon  this 
(in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio)  most  extraordinary  phe- 
nomenon are  recorded  by  Dr.  Drake  in  the  Appendix 
to  the  Picture  of  Cincinnati.  Most  careful  notes  of  the 
duration  and  deviation  of  the  shocks  were  made  by 
Colonel  Mansfield,  at  Bates'  place.  A  carefully  pre- 
pared pendulum,  hung  in  the  parlor  window  of  his 
house,  never  ceased  its  vibrations  from  December  to  the 
following  May ;  and  several  shocks  occurred  during  the 


EARTHQUAKES.  87 

remainder  of  the  year  1812.  The  original  seat  of  this 
shaking  of  the  earth  seems  to  have  been  near  New  Ma- 
drid, on  the  Mississippi,  a  point  four  hundred  miles,  in  a 
direct  line,  from  Cincinnati.  There  the  convulsion  was 
terrific.  Boats  on  the  river  were  thrown  into  a  boiling 
whirlpool,  and  seemed  for  a  time  to  be  engulfed  in  an 
endless  vortex.  The  banks  of  the  river  were  rent,  the 
earth  was  opened,  the  waters,  rushing  in,  formed  lakes  for 
miles  where  the  land  was  dry  before.  Explosions  from 
beneath  took  place,  an<J  fossils,  buried  in  the  alluvium 
of  ages,  were  forced  to  the  surface.  The  power  of  the 
original  cause  may  be  estimated  by  the  fact  of  such  vio- 
lent effects  at  Cincinnati,  four  hundred  miles  distant, 
and  that  the  movements,  as  of  a  lever,  of  this  central 
force  were  felt  almost  throughout  North  America,  di- 
minishing in  intensity  in  the  inverse  ratio  of  the  distance. 

The  existence  of  these  effects  proves,  beyond  a  doubt, 
the  existence  also  of  volcanic  fires  under  the  central 
portions  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  equal  to  produce 
them.  Are  they  exhausted?  Or  are  they  ready  at  any 
time  to  break  out?  There  are  volcanic  craters  whose 
fires  have  been  extinct  at  periods  beyond  historical 
memory,  and  of  which  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  they 
are  permanently  extinguished.  There  are  others  which 
break  out  only  at  intervals ;  and  there  are  others  con- 
tinually in  activity,  which,  like  Vesuvius  and  jEtna, 
pour  forth  their  irruptions  at  short  periods. 

Of  what  character  is  the  great  volcanic  fire,  which  did 
and  perhaps  does  burn  under  the  Mississippi,  we  know 
not.  But  the  continent  of  America  is  as  full  of  the  evi- 
dences of  natural  change  and  convulsion,  as  of  those 
great  social  movements  which  now  attract  the  attention 
of  mankind.  Her  alluvial  soils  have  been  formed  by 


88  LIFE  OF  DK.    DANIEL  DRAKE. 

the  deposites  of  water  which  once  flowed  over  all  her 
plains.  Her  hills  are  filled  with  the  fossil  remains  of 
fish  and  animals,  once  existent,  but  now  unknown .  The 
valley  and  the  mountains  contain  the  evidence  of  vol- 
canic fires,  which  once  fiercely  burnt,  rending  the  earth, 
changing  the  course  of  streams,  and  sending  a  shock 
through  the  whole  frame  of  nature.  When  we  consider 
these  things,  we  should  be  the  most  unreasonable  of 
beings,  if  we  did  not  realize  that  the  surface  of  the  earth 
was  once  broken  up,  and  that  it  is  possible  it  may  be 
again  ruptured  or  destroyed  with  burning  lava. 

When  again  we  turn  from  the  contemplation  of  these 
physical  ruins,  to  the  antiquities  of  extinct  nations,  alike 
unknown,  but  alike  moved  in  a  mysterious  way  by  the 
invisible  hand  of  God,  we  are  led  to  exclaim,  "  What  is 
man,  that  thou  visitest  him,  or  the  son  of  man,  that 
thou  regardest  ? "  W  hen  we  consider,  however,  that  it 
is  man,  who,  amidst  all  the  mutations  of  time  and  nature, 
is  still  his  care,  amidst  mortals,  the  only  immortal,  we 
feel  with  the  poet, 

"  When  I  bethink  on  that  speech  whylear, 
Of  mutability, —  and  well  it  weigh, 
Me  seems,  that  though  she  all  unworthy  were 
Of  the  heaven's  rule ;  yet,  very  soothe  to  say, 
In  all  things  else  she  bears  the  greatest  sway. 
*        *        #        *        #        ##        * 

"  Then  begin  I  to  think 

Of  that  same  time,  when  no  more  change  shall  be, 
But  steadfast  rest  of  all  things,  firmly  stay'd 
Upon  the  pillows  of  eternity, 
That  is  contrayr  to  mutability  : 
For  all  that  moveth  doth  in  change  delight, 
But  thenceforth  all  shall  rest  eternally, 
With  Him  that  is  the  God  of  sabaoth  height." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1809  to  1815 — His  Sickness — Loses  his  Child — Religious  Feelings — 
Medical  Practice— War  of  1812— Surrender  of  Hull— Public  Opin- 
ion— Death  of  his  friend  John  Mansfield — Enters  upon  Commer- 
cial Business — Is  Interested  in  the  Lancaster  Seminary — Publishes 
the  Pictures  of  Cincinnati. 

I  SHALL  now  return  to  the  domestic  and  professional 
life  of  Dr.  Drake,  which  from  his  marriage,  in  the  autumn 
of  1807,  to  the  war  of  1812  was  alternately  diversified 
with  light  and  shade.  These  vicissitudes  of  condition  are, 
it  is  true,  common  to  nearly  all  mankind;  but  in  the  in- 
dividual they  develope  character  and  illustrate  the  growth 
of  the  mind  and  the  affections.  One  of  the  first  serious 
events  which  occurred  to  him  was  his  own  severe  illness ; 
and  as  this  event,  detailed  by  himself,  is  one  of  the  best 
testimonies  to  the  kind  and  character  of  medical  prac- 
tice than  in  vogue,  and  the  danger  of  a  theory  in  the 
case  of  a  patient,  I  shall  give  its  history  in  his  own  words : 

"About  the  1st  of  January,"  (1809,)  he  says,  "  I  was 
attacted  with  a  violent  cold,  which  upon  my  keeping  to 
the  house  two  or  three  days  seemed  to  get  better ;  I  then 
went  out  again,  when  I  got  worse.  About  the  5th  or  6th 
of  the  month,  some  symptoms  occurred  which  induced  Dr. 
Allison  and  myself  to  suppose  that  I  had  inflammation  in 
my  lungs.  This  is  a  disease  nearly  resembling  pleurisy, 
but  much  more  mortal.  It  occurs  frequently  here  in 
winter.  We  did  not  think  I  had  the  disease  in  a  very 
high  degree,  but  I  felt  anxious  to  remove  such  an  unwel- 
come disease  as  soon  as  possible.  To  do  this  I  lived 
low,  was  bled  several  times,  and  made  use  of  other 
8  89 


90  LIFE   OF  DE.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

weakening  means ;  but  bjno  means  to  the  degree  to  which 
we  frequently  resort  to  them.  The  consequence,  however, 
was,  that  about  the  10th  of  the  month  I  was  suddenly 
siezed  with  violent  cramps  and  spasms,  which,  but  for  the 
use  of  the  most  powerful  and  timely  remedies,  would  have 
terminated  directly  in  convulsions,  from  which  it  is  not 
probable  I  should  ever  have  recovered.  This  happened  in 
the  afternoon.  During  the  whole  of  the  succeeding  night, 
I  was  so  weak  and  debilitated  that  when  I  attempted  to 
sleep  I  was  almost  suffocated.  The  next  day  all  symptoms 
of  inflammation  in  the  lungs  were  gone,  but  I  was  exces- 
sively weak  and  had  many  symptoms  of  nervous  fever." 

To  this  account  he  adds  subsequently : — "  So  much  for 
the  narration  of  my  case.  In  revising  it,  I  am  led  to 
make  a  few  observations,  which,  I  suppose,  will,  not  be 
unacceptable.  It  is  probable  that  so  much  inflammation 
as  we  supposed  did  not  exist,  or  that  the  bleeding  would 
not  have  produced  the  nervous  symptoms  that  occurred. 
These  symptoms,  1  suppose,  would  shortly  have  proved 
fatal,  had  I  not  taken  large  quantities  of  laudanum,  ether, 
oil  of  amber,  &c.,  and  been  put  into  a  warm  bath,  and 
nursed  in  the  best  manner." 

From  this  precise  report  of  his  case,  we  learn  that  two 
of  the  most  acute  physicians  in  the  West,  himself  and  Dr. 
Allison,  mistook  in  a  great  measure  the  degree,  if  not  the 
nature,  of  his  complaint;  and  that  in  endeavoring  to 
remedy  it,  they  nearly  killed  him  with  another  and  a  totally 
different  disease !  There  is  no  doubt  that  if  the  patient 
had  been  any  other  than  himself,  this  treatment  would 
have  been  liable  to  severe  criticism.  As  it  was,  the  case 
is  a  very  strong  illustration  of  two  general  facts,  that  the 
depleting  system  was,  by  the  influence  of  Dr.  Rush,  in 
general  vogue ;  and  that,  although  anatomy,  physiology, 


HIS   SICKNESS. 

chemistry,  and  botany,  are  sciences  attendant  upon  medi- 
cine, yet  the  knowledge  of  the  nature,  and  cure  of  dis- 
eases, still  remained  in  great  obscurity.  An  inflammation 
of  the  lungs,  if  it  really  exist,  is  undoubtedly,  in  all  modes 
of  practice,  a  fit  subject  for  depletion.  In  this  case,  how- 
ever, it  is  admitted  by  the  physicians  to  have  existed  in  a 
very  slight,  if  in  any  degree  at  all.  Yet  the  physicians 
bled  "several  times,"  and  Dr.  Drake  adds,  "but  by  no 
means  to  the  degree  to  which  we  frequently  resorted ! " 
We  can  only  account  for  this  on  the  supposition  already 
referred  to,  that  the  lancet  was  the  great  popular  remedy 
of  the  day  for  all  inflammatory  diseases,  and  was  used 
with  a  freedom  which  would  astonish  the  profession  at 
this  time. 

In  justice  to  Dr.  Drake,  in  this  particular  case,  it 
should  be  remembered  that  a  patient  is  never  a  proper 
judge  of  his  own  condition,  and  that  he  might  have 
adopted  a  very  different  course,  had  he  been  ministering 
at  the  bed-side  of  another  in  similar  circumstances.  Eigh- 
teen years  after,  I  saw  him  attending  a  dear  friend,  sick 
with  a  decided  inflammation  of  the  lungs,  and  he  bled 
once  or  twice  freely  with  great  success.  The  patient, 
however,  was  of  sanguine  constitution,  and  to  such  per- 
sons, bleeding  is  often  an  efficient  remedy,  while  it  fails, 
or  is  positively  injurious,  to  those  of  other  habits.  The 
close  observation  of  the  physician  often  avails  him  more 
than  any  knowledge  or  skill  in  discerning  the  difference 
of  constitution  and  symptoms,  which  make  a  remedy 
proper  in  one  case,  when  it  would  be  fatal  in  another. 

In  regard  to  his  narrow  escape,  and  the  value  of  good 
nursing,  he  says,  "  I  probably  owe  my  life  to  my  being  a 
married  man.  Had  I  been  laying  at  a  tavern,  attended 
only  by  servants,  I  should  probably  have  expired  before 


92  LIFE   OF  DE.   DANIEL 

my  friends,  in  distant  parts  of  thQ  town,  could  come  to  my 
relief.  As  it  was,  I  have  been  from  the  first  of  my  sick- 
ness, to  the  present  hour,  attended  in  the  most  tender^ 
anxious,  and  attentive  manner,  by  the  most  affection- 
ate of  wives )  and  have  likewise  received  much  kindness 
from  all  my  friends." 

In  the  same  letter  from  which  I  quote,  there  is  a  very 
candid  statement  of  his  religious  feelings,  in  the  critical 
condition  in  which  he  was  placed.  He  was  not  then, 
nor  for  many  years  after,  a  member  of  any  church ;  but 
being  brought  up  by  the  most  pious  parents,  whose  pre- 
cepts and  example  were  continually  before  him,  he  had 
a  high  respect  for  the  institutions,  and  a  general  faith  in 
the  principles  of  Christianity.  Writing  to  his  father,  he 
says :  "  You  will  probably  like  to  know  something  of  my 
feelings  when  I  was  in  a  situation  which,  I  supposed, 
would  likely  prove  fatal,  and  this  information  I  will 
give  you  with  candor  in  a  few  words.  One  of  my  re- 
ligious friends  exhorted  me  to  trust  in  God,  which  I  told 
her  I  hoped  I  did.  My  mind,  however,  was  rather  en- 
gaged in  contemplating  the  means  of  living  than  of 
dying ;  it  seemed  more  natural  to  study  what  would  re- 
lieve me,  than  what  would  prepare  me  for  another  world. 
I  had  long  since  thought  that  our  conduct  through  life 
might  be  made  a  better  preparation  for  eternity  than 
death-bed  prayers.  If  I  am  wrong,  I  sincerely  implore 
to  be  set  right  by  him  who  never  errs.  Since  I  have 
got  about,  and  found  myself  restored  to  my  dear  com- 
panion, and  my  little  daughter,  who  could  poorly  spare 
me,  I  have  felt  sentiments  of  devotion  and  thanksgiving 
which  I  never  felt  before." 

This  illness  of  her  husband  caused  Mrs.  Drake  such 
care,  loss  of  sleep,  and  anxiety  of  mind,  that  she  became 


LOSES   HIS   CHILD.  93 

much  weakened,  and  her  constitution,  always  tender, 
seems  never  after  to  have  recovered  its  full  strength. 

In  September  of  the  same  year,  (1809,)  occurred  another 
of  those  domestic  calamities,  which  always  a  severe 
shock,  is  never  so  acutely  felt,  as  by  young  and  doting 
parents.  This  was  the  death  of  their  first,  and  their  only 
child,  a' daughter,  named  Harriet  from  its  mother.  Both 
the  parents  were  persons  not  only  of  warm,  but  of  sensi- 
tive temperament.  In  the  young  and  bright  days  of 
their  marriage,  this  child  had  been  more  doted  on  than 
is  usual,  natural  as  it  is  to  parents.  It  died  suddenly  of 
that  common  and  often  fatal  disease — the  croup.  The 
suffering  of  the  parents  was  as  keen  as  their  affection  had 
been  intense.  The  following  expression  of  his  grief  will 
show  that  this  went  was  to  them  most  deeply  felt. 

"  She  was  the  life,  the  soul,  the  comfort  of  us  all ;  but 
her  mother — her  mother — Oh  !  'her  mother,  what  shall 
I  say  of  her  ?  To  her  mother  she  was  the  whole  world, 
except  myself.  The  very  existence  of  this  mother  was 
almost  inseparable  from  the  life  of  that  little  innocent, 
and  now  she  is  almost  inconsolable.  Every  object  in 
the  house  recalls  some  little  action,  some  sweet  smile,  of 
that  little  saint !  When  she  lies  down  at  night;  when 
she  awakes  in  the  morning ;  when  she  comes  down  stairs ; 
when  she  sits  down  at  table,  she  constantly  finds  some- 
thing to  remind  her  of  the  pleasure  which  that  dear  little 
spirit  gave  her,  and,  bursting  into  tears,  recounts  the  inno- 
cent smiles  and  actions  of  this  child  of  our  love." 

This  is  the  language  of  unaffected  grief;  and  all  who 
have  felt  such  pangs  will  realize  the  force  of  these 
expressions. 

Thus  had  two  of  the  sorrows  of  life  come  upon  their 
household  in  one  year ;  and  while  the  outward  world 


94:  '         LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

shone  bright  and  hopeful,  the  cloud  of  adversity  had 
already  cast  its  shadows  on  their  household. 

At  the  same  time,  with  the  sickness  and  death  of  his 
own  child,  occurred  others  among  his  friends,  and  in  this 
and  the  following  year,  1810,  Cincinnati  was  decidedly 
unhealthy  for  children.  In  1810,  he  writes:  "it  is  still 
sickly  among  children,  but  not  among  adults."  From 
testimony  and  observation  I  should  think  that  sickness 
among  children  was  greater  in  proportion  than  it  is  now. 
At  any  rate,  I  am  convinced  that  if  we  except  that  great 
plague,  the  cholera,  the  general  health  of  Cincinnati  has 
improved,  rather  than  diminished,  with  the  increase  of 
population.  It  seems  also  quite  evident  that  the  medical 
profession  has  improved  in  its  mode  of  treating  young 
children.  Much  less  active  and  acrid  medicine  is  given 
them,  and  when  so  little  is  known  of  some  of  their  com- 
plaints, it  seems  admitted  that  good  nursing,  with  at 
most  mild  medicines,  are  the  best  remedies.  Dr.  Drake 
was  at  this  time  rising  rapidly  into  a  large  and  extensive 
practice,  and  possessed  the  confidence  of  the  most  intel- 
ligent citizens ;  yet,  in  a  subsequent  period,  he  admitted 
that  his  practice  was,  in  some  cases,  too  violent.  His 
own  case  may  be  taken  as  an  example.  But  in  this  he 
was  in  no  way  peculiar.  It  was  the  habit  and  the  system 
of  the  day  to  apply  active  and  powerful  remedies,  and  es- 
pecially to  bleed  largely.  If  it  is  called  the  "heroic" 
treatment  now  to  administer  heavy  doses  of  calomel  in 
cholera,  how  much  more  "  heroic  "  was  it  to  bear  numer- 
ous and  exhausting  bleedings,  for  the  common  fever  of 
the  country ! 

Of  Dr.  Drake's  mode  of  practice,  and  his  self-reliance, 
I  may  give  the  following  case,  which  occurred  three  years 
after,  as  an  illustration.  In  1812-13,  he  had  a  medical 


MEDICAL  PRACTICE.  95 

student,  Dr.  G.,  who  removed  to  Hamilton,  and  there  fell 
sick.  With  characteristic  devotion  to  his  friends,  he  went 
to  Hamilton  and  remained  there  five  days  in  attendance 
on  Dr.  G. 

Of  this  case,  writing  to  another  friend  an  account,  he 
says :  "  He  was  attacked  seventeen  days  ago,  with  bilious 
fever,  which  terminated  in  a  train  of  nervous  symptoms 
so  violent  as  to  threaten  his  existence  every  hour  for  a 
week.  In  addition  to  the  common  remedies,  employed  by 
the  faculty  in  this  quarter,  I  have  applied  an  eifusion  of 
cold  water  to  the  whole  surface  of  the  body.  It  has  been 
repeated  ten  or  twelve  times,  and  to  it  I  ascribe  his 
recovery,  which  may  at  this  time,  I  think,  be  considered 
pretty  certain.  This  is  not  a  new  prescription^  but  its 
employment  in  this  State  has  hitherto  been  neglected. 
In  the  summer  of  1806,  when  I  was  a  young  practi- 
tioner in  Kentucky,  I  resorted  to  this  same  remedy  a  sin- 
gle time,  in  a  case  that  I  thought  required  it.  The  friends 
having  objections,  I  desisted,  and  sent  for  Dr.  D.,  an  old 
and  respectable  physician.  The  doctor  spoke  with  great 
approbation  of  the  application,  but  observed  it  was  too 
hazardous  to  a  physician's  reputation,  and,  therefore, 
should  not  be  employed.  This  advice  contained  some- 
thing which  we  are  all  sufficiently  predisposed  to  lay  hold 
of.  I  accordingly  adopted  it,  and  have  had  repeated  occa- 
sions for  dissatisfaction  ever  since.  The  event  of  some 
cases  of  fever  this  summer,  determined  me  to  revert  to 
the  disinterested  and  magnanimous  views  and  motives  of 
youth,  and  also  to  prescribe  and  enforce,  in  all  dangerous 
cases,  anything  which  I  believe  necessary,  the  antipathies 
of  the  sick  and  the  obloquy  of  the  intermeddling,  notwith- 
standing. I  know  I  shall  have  your  prayers,  and  I  value 
them  much,  for  perseverance  in  such  a  good  resolution." 


96  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

The  rule  thus  laid  down  is  undoubtedly  the  true  one ; 
but  when  we  see  how  much  courage  and  firmness  it  takes 
to  break  through  the  routine  of  a  great  profession,  we 
learn  that  it  is  not  merely  in  social  life  and  manners  that 
fashion  bears  sway,  but  that  over  science  itself  its  des- 
potism is  felt.  When  an  old  physician,  as  in  this  case, 
advises  others  not  to  use  a  remedy  which-  his  judgment 
approves,  because  it  might  injure  their  reputation,  it  is 
clear  that  in  many  cases  routine^  rather  than  either  skill 
or  learning,  govern  the  practice  of  the  profession. 

The  cold  water  effusion  applied  in  the  case  of  Dr.  G., 
falls  far  short  in  either  severity  or  temerity  of  many  such 
applications  made  by  our  modern  hydropathists,  who, 
going  to  the  other  extreme,  have  made  cold  water  the 
basis  of  their  treatment.  Since  the  days  of  Hufeland,* 
at  least,  water  must  be  esteemed  one  of  the  great  reme- 
dial agents ;  but  when,  how,  and  to  what  extent,  to  apply 
it,  is  the  great  desideratum  of  patient  and  physician. 

Dr.  Drake  was  occupied,  as  I  have  mentioned,  chiefly 
by  his  professional  practice,  (now  very  large,)  but  also 
much  in  the  preparation  of  his  "  Picture  of  Cincinnati," 
from  1808  to  1815.  He  had  now  reached  the  year  1812, 
and  became  much  interested  and  excited,  with  all  the 
people  of  the  West,  in  the  war  about  to  break  out,  and 
which  subsequently  ravaged  the  frontiers  of  Ohio  and 
Indiana.  The  war  was,  in  this  region,  popular.  The 
battle  of  Tippecanoe  had  been  fought  in  the  previous  au- 
tumn, and  the  spirit  of  patriotism  was  aroused  to  the 
highest  degree.  The  hostility  against  the  British  and  In- 
dians was  intense,  and  was  greatly  increased  by  an  almost 

*  Water,  in  various  modes  of  administration,  was  recommended 
by  Hufeland,  a  noted  German  physician. 


THE   WAR   OF   EIGHTEEN   HUNDRED   AND   TWELVE.      97 

universal  belief  that  the  British  had  instigated  the  In- 
dians in  their  ferocious  attacks.  The  prophet  was  repre- 
sented as  a  fiery  spirit,  rousing  his  savage  countrymen 
to  war,  while  his  warrior-brother,  Tecumseh,  would  lead 
them  forth  to  battle  and  plunder.  The  citizens  of  Cin- 
cinnati were  near  enough  to  what  might  become  the  seat 
of  war,  the  Maumee,  to  feel  for  themselves  great  interest, 
if  not  apprehension  for  the  result.  Many  of  the  original 
tribes,  such  as  the  Wyandots,  Pottawatomies,  Miamis,  and 
Shawuees,  still  occupied  the  upper  parts  of  Ohio  and 
Indiana;  and  it  was  these  tribes  chiefly  that  Tecumseh 
was  endeavoring  to  enlist.  In  the  public  sentiment  of 
the  day,  Dr.  Drake  shared  fully ;  the  more  so,  perhaps, 
that  many  of  his  friends  were  engaged  in  military 
affairs.  His  intimate  friend,  Colonel  Mansfield,  was  an 
officer  of  Engineers,  and  was  now  just  about  to  remove 
to  West  Point,  where  he  was  the  principal  instructor  for 
many  years.  Totten,  Jessup,  and  Cutler,  his  old  associ- 
ates in  the  debating  society,  were  all  in  the  army ;  and 
John  Mansfield,  another  friend,  was  captain  of  a  volun- 
teer company,  which  afterwards  marched  to  Canada  with 
Hull.  Though  by  the  necessity  of  his  practice  kept  out 
of  active  military  service,  his  correspondence,  at  this 
period,  shows  the  most  intense  interest  in  the  events 
which  were  transpiring.  Nor  was  he  wholly  disengaged 
in  the  business  of  the  war ;  for  he  took  a  government 
contract  for  supplying  the  army  with  medicines,  upon 
which,  however,  he  made  but  a  small  profit. 

To  him,  and  his  immediate  circle  of  friends,  the  year 
1812-13  was  one  of  profound  interest.  They  felt  not 
only  all  the  excitement  of  intense  patriotism,  but  their 
own  afft-ctions  and  interests  were  not  a  little  engaged  in 
the  persons  and  events  of  the  day.  Many  of  the 
9 


98  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL  DRAKE. 

." 

choicest  young  men  in  Cincinnati  were  volunteers  in  the 
army  against  Canada.  Never  did  any  body  of  men 
move  forward  with  greater  spirit  and  hope ;  and  never, 
at  least  in  American  history,  were  hope  and  promise 
more  disastrously  blighted.  The  history  of  those  times 
furnish  ample  details  of  the  result ;  but  it  was  in 
Cincinnati  the  bitterness  of  the  blow  was  most  severely 
felt. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1812,  just  on  the  eve  of  the 
declaration  of  war  by  Congress,  the  army  of  Hull  had 
marched  from  this  neighborhood.  The  fourth  regiment 
of  the  United  States  Infantry,  which  had  been  greatly 
distinguished  at  Tippecanoe,  formed  one  part  of  the 
army,  and  was  everywhere  received  with  great  accla- 
mation. The  regiment  from  the  Miami  country  was' 
commanded  by  General  Findley,  and  embraced  some  of 
the  most  active  citizens.  Several  companies  volunteered 
from  Cincinnati,  of  which  one,  the  Light  Infantry,  was 
commanded  by  John  Mansfield.  The  whole  population 
of  the  country  turned  out  on  the  highways  to  witness  the 
departure  of  the  army,  as  they  believed,  for  the  conquest 
of  Canada.  The  warmth  and  brightness  of  the  sum- 
mer's sun  under  which  they  moved,  were  not  warmer  or 
brighter  than  the  hopes  and  anticipations  of  the  people, 
as  they  waved  their  hands  and  shouted  out  their  joy. 
Such  were  the  auspices  under  which  the  troops  moved 
forward. 

The  scene,  however,  was  soon  changed,  and  long  be- 
fore they  saw  an  enemy,  clouds  and  shadows  gathered  on 
the  horizon.  It  appears  from  the  private  correspondence 
of  Captain  Mansfield,  that  the  army  had  not  gone  an 
hundred  miles  before  the  officers  lost  all  confidence  in 
their  general.  His  movements  were  dilatory,  and  his 


GENEBAL  HULL?S   SURRENDER,  99 

mind  indecisive.  He  had  lost  the  energy  of  youth, 
without  acquiring  the  wisdom  of  age.  Timidity  had 
taken  the  place  of  courage,  and  extreme  caution  the 
place  of  enterprise.  Their  only  hope  was  that  Provi- 
dence would  save  them  from  his  blunders.  Such,  how- 
ever, was  not  their  fate.  The  final  catastrophe  soon 
came,  and  the  northwestern  army  was  surrendered  to 
the  British.  The  effect  which  this  event  produced  on 
the  minds  of  the  Western  people,  is  forcibly  described 
by  Dr.  Drake  in  these  words : 

"  Before  reading  this  you  will  have  heard  of  the  as- 
tonishing, degrading,  deplorable,  and  exasperating  intel- 
ligence of  the  capture  of  our  army.  I  should  rather  say 
the  surrender,  if  not  the  sale,  of  that  fine  body  of  Ohio 
patriots  and  warriors.  An  unrestrained  and  universal 
imprecation  has,  in  this  State  and  Kentucky,  burst  forth 
on  General  Hull.  It  seems  to  be  the  study  of  all  ranks 
and  conditions  of  persons,  to  invent  expressions  of  exe- 
cration, that  may  be  sufficiently  indignant  to  express 
their  feelings.'5 

This  language  was  not  too  strong.  For  years  the 
name  of  Hull  was  never  mentioned  but  with  execration ; 
and,  at  that  time,  most  persons  believed  him  a  traitor. 
Of  that,  however,  he  has  been  acquitted,  and  his 
blunders  attributed  to  timidity  or  dotage. 

Speaking  of  the  future  consequences  of  this  disgrace- 
ful failure,  Dr.  Drake  continues :  "  Tecumseh  is  said  to 
hold  a  brigadier's  commission,  and  to  command  the 
copper-colored  hyenas.  I  suspect  the  plains  of  the  St. 
Mary's  will  be  drenched  with  blood.  I  cannot  but 
shudder  at  the  prospect,  and  deplore  that  pussilanimity 
which  did  not  strike  a  blow,  when  and  where  the  enemy 
was  vulnerable."  This  anticipation  was,  in  a  great 


100  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DKAKE. 

measure,  realized.  The  subsequent  seige  of  Fort  Meigs, 
the  capture  and  massacre  of  Winchester's  detachment, 
and  the  ravages  committed  on  the  frontiers,  were  all  con- 
sequences of  Hull's  surrender.  There  was  no  recovery 
of  our  ground  in  the  northwest,  till  Harrison's  victory 
on  the  Thames. 

Public  calamities  never  come  without  private  distress. 
The  blunder,  or  the  cowardice,  which  by  surrender  tore 
the  laurel  from  the  soldier,  carried  grief  to  many  a  heart. 
Not  only  did  the  Indians  pursue  with  savage  cruelty 
many  a  frontier  family,  but  some  of  the  best  soldiers  of 
the  army  perished  by  disease,  caused  by  exposure  or 
despondency. 

Among  these  was  Dr.  Drake's  intimate  and  highly 
valued  friend,  Captain  John  Mansfield,  whose  loss  was 
among  the  mournful  memories  of  his  life.  He  was  a 
most  extraordinary  young  man,  whose  character  pro- 
duced a  more  intense  and  enduring  impression  upon  those 
who  knew  him,  than  did  any  one  of  whom  I  have  ever 
heard.  The  impression  made  upon  others — an  impression 
deep  and  durable — is  the  highest  testimony  to  the  reality 
of  a  great  and  noble  character.  The  fleeting  effect  of 
brilliant  genius,  or  the  doubtful  applause  given  to  talent 
without  virtue,  may  be  possessed  by  many  ;  but  it  is  sel- 
dom we  find  that  perfection  of  character  which  demands 
a  praise  which  never  wavers,  and  which  no  time  destroys. 
Still  more  seldom  do  we  find  in  it  such  kindly  affections, 
as  draws  within  its  embrace  the  hearts  of  both  strangers 
and  friends.  Such  was  the  character  of  Captain  Mans- 
field ;  and  I  judge  it  only  by  the  concurrent  testimony  of 
a  large  number  of  persons,  from  the  passing  citizen  to  the 
near  relatives,  from  the  soldier  who  served  with  him  tc 
the  officer  who  commanded.  -;^ 


DEATH   OF  JOHN   MANSFIELD.  101 

Returning  after  Hull's  surrender,  in  an  open  boat  on 
the  lake  and  river,  he  was  seized  with  autumnal  fever ; 
enfeebled  by  disease,  he  was  not  less  broken  in  spirit ; 
and  his  sensitive  mind  seemed  to  have  sunk  under  the 
stain  of  disgrace  and  disappointment.  In  this  state  Dr. 
Drake  found  him,  when  returned  to  Cincinnati.  No 
power  of  medicine,  or  care  of  friend,  availed  against  his 
deep-seated  malady  of  mind  and  body.  He  was  already 
delirious,  and  soon  sank  to  the  grave.  He  was  only  in 
his  twenty-fifth  year ;  and  one  so  young,  so  unassuming, 
and  so  full  of  worth,  was  never  so  much  lamented 
by  so  many  who  knew  what  worth  was.  The  public 
honors  paid  to  his  memory — not  a  few — were  small 
compared  to  the  tribute  of  sorrows  poured  out  by  hearts 
bound  to  him  by  no  tie  of  nature,  but  endeared  by  strong 
affection. 

Dr.  Drake  prepared  for  the  newspapers  of  the  day  a 
beautiful  eulogium,  just  in  itself,  and  elegant  in  its  com- 
position. But  a  passage  from  a  letter,  written  months 
after  this  event,  and  with  no  idea  that  it  would  be 
read  by  other  eyes  than  those  to  whom  it  was  addressed, 
will  show  more  clearly  his  views  of  his  friend's  character. 

"Sorrow,  deep  and  enduring  sorrow,  should  occupy 
our  souls  by  day  and  night,  that  such  virtues,  genius, 
and  ambition  must  become  extinct ;  that  he  who  possessed 
them  must  in  the  midst  of  his  desire  for  life,  his 
attachment  to  friends  and  country,  and  in  the  commence- 
ment of  his  career  to  the  glory  that  awaits  the  patriot 
and  philosopher,  by  one  unexpected,  one  fatal  stroke,  be 
brought  to  the  silent  grave. 

"  When  we  see  nature  create  a  beautiful  form,  dignify 
it  with  the  graces  and  aspects  of  the  most  exalted  man- 
hood, sanctify  it  with  virtue,  ennoble  it  with  genius,  and 


102  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

animate  it  with  ambition  ;  when  we  see  her  conduct  this 
exalted  work  of  her  hand  through  the  critical  periods  of 
infancy,  childhood,  and  youth ;  and  providing  for  him 
mentors  worthy  to  be  heard  and  obeyed ;  when  we  see 
her  superintend  this  rising  ornament  of  his  race  to 
the  threshold  of  usefulness,  and  then  suffer  him  to 
become  extinct,  while  thousands  of  stupid,  vicious,  and 
useless  cotemporaries  survive  his  fall,  we — at  least  I  am — - 
confounded  in  astonishment  and  terror;  and  must  ex- 
claim that  the  ways  of  heaven  are  past  finding  out !  " 

In  the  following  year  he  named  a  child  after  his 
lamented  friend,  saying :  "  If  he  should  inherit  but  a  por- 
tion of  the  genius  of  that  extraordinary  young  philoso- 
pher, and  labor  and  imitate  his  virtues,  we  shall  call 
ourselves  blessed."  The  child,  like  his  namesake,  was  full 
of  promise ;  but  wras  suddenly  cut  down  in  the  flower 
and  disappeared. 

In  the  years  1813  and  1814,  we  find  him  chiefly  en- 
gaged in  his  profession,  and  in  the  completion  of  his 
"Picture  of  Cincinnati,"  which  grew  upon  his  hands 
and  for  which  he  accumulated  a  great  mass  of  materials 
by  observation  and  correspondence. 

About  the  same  period,  also,  we  find  him  commencing 
a  series  of  commercial  operations,  which  extended  through 
several  years,  and  in  the  end  were  very  disastrous.  For 
this  kind  of  business  he  was  not  well  fitted,  both  be- 
cause he  did  not  love  money  enough  to  be  careful  of  it, 
and  because,  like  all  other  professional  men,  his  time  and 
thoughts  were  necessarily  engaged  upon  other  things. 
The  history  of  literature  and  of  science  proves  clearly 
enough  that  nothing  has  proved  more  unfortunate  to 
men  in  these  walks,  than  commercial  speculations. 
There  is  something  in  the  pursuit  of  money  and  the 


ENTERS   UPON  COMMERCIAL   BUSINESS.  103 

pursuit  of  knowledge,  which,  if  not  radically  hostile  to  each 
other,  at  least  admits  of  no  divided  empire.  Mammon 
claims  all  for  his  own,  and  looks  with  jealousy  and  hate 
upon  all  who  raise  their  eyes  above  the  earth.  Though 
Newton,  and  a  few  other  scientific  men  have,  by  good  for- 
tune or  great  frugality,  became  wealthy,  yet  most  men  of 
learning  and  genuis  have  had,  like  Milton,  good  reasons 
to  describe  Mammon  as 

"  the  least  erected  spirit  that  fell 

From  Heaven,  for  e'en  in  heaven  his  looks  and  thoughts 
Were  always  downward  bent;  admiring  more 
The  riches  of  heav'n's  pavement,  trodden  gold, 
Then  aught  divine,  or  holy  else  enjoyed." 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  charged  with  no  less  truth 
upon  men  engaged  wholly  in  intellectual  or  religious  pur- 
suits, that  they  are  too  negligent  of  business,  or  too  in- 
different to  economy.  The  fact  is  doubtless  so ;  and 
only  proves  that  human  nature  is  yet  imperfect  and  in- 
capable of  being  great  in  all  things.  If  it  was  guided 
only  by  the  instincts  of  want,  it  would  make  the  pursuit 
of  gain  the  end  of  life.  If  by  the  instinct  of  glory  only, 
it  would  pursue  knowledge  through  invisible  worlds, 
and  grasp  its  spirit  beyond  the  grave.  Thus  divided 
are  the  tendencies  of  our  imperfect  nature,  which  finds 
its  hardest  task  in  pursuing  that  just  course,  which 
neglects  not  the  needs  of  earth,  while  it  aspires  to  that 
intellectual  glory  which  it  shares  in  common  with  the 
angels. 

At  no  period  of  his  life  did  Dr.  Drake  feel  more  his 
early  deficiencies  of  education,  or  aspire  more  ardently 
to  the  higher  walk  of  professional  and  scientific  eminence; 
yet  it  was  at  this  period  also,  he  became  immersed  in 
business,  and  seemed  to  think,  as  Dr.  Adam  Clark  has 


104  LIFE    OF   DK.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

somewhere  expressed  it,  that  "  no  man  could  have  too 
many  irons  in  the  fire."  He  was  practicing  medicine  most 
actively,  was  preparing  books  for  the  press,  was  engaged 
in  all  the  social  affairs  of  the  day,  had  a  large  correspon- 
dence, wras  building  a  house,  and  finally,  had  established 
a  drug  store  on  Main  Street  (between  Second  and  Third 
streets,)  and  now  actually  meditated  increasing  it  by  the 
sale  of  groceries !  The  last  plan  he  executed.  His 
brother  Benjamin,  who  was  then  studying  law  at  Mays- 
lick,  was  invited,  in  1814,  to  assist  him,  and  finally  to 
be  his  partner  in  the  drug  store.  In  one  of  his  letters, 
written  just  before  this,  he  says  he  had  conceived  the  idea 
that  the  sale  of  groceries,  in  connection  with  the  drug 
store,  would  be  very  profitable.  As  a  reason  for  this, 
he  gives  the  retail  prices  of  several  articles,  prevailing 
in  Cincinnati  in  1813 ;  and  certainly  they  look  tempt- 
ing enough  to  the  merchant,  though  very  awful  to 
the  consumer.  That  the  curious  reader  may  compare 
them  with  present  prices,  I  quote  a  few  of  them : 

Hyson  Tea, $2.25  f  ib. 

Coffee, 37J  " 

Loaf  Sugar, 37}  " 

Madeira  Wins, 5.00  $  gal. 

These,  he  says,  are  war  prices,  but  that  the  profits 
will  be  better  in  peace ;  because  they  will  be  obtained 
easier.  In  reading  his  calculations  on  this  subject,  I  am 
struck  with  the  great  vicissitudes  of  mercantile  life,  and 
the  impossibility  that  any  one  should  succeed  in  it  who 
does  not  give  to  its  affairs  his  whole  time  and  attention. 
In  the  estimates  of  Dr.  Drake  on  commercial  affairs  at 
that  time,  two  of  the  greatest  elements  which  have 
affected  and  modified  trade  in  the  West  were  left  out  of 


COMMERCIAL   ENTERPRISES.  105 

view.  In  after  times,  as  I  shall  relate,  he  studied  both 
most  thoroughly,  and,  in  the  zeal  and  attention  he  gave 
them,  proved  that  his  experience  had  been  valuable  and 
instructive.  The  elements  left  out  were  the  changes  in 
locomotion,  and  the  liabilities  to  revolution  in  credit 
and  currency.  The  inventive  genius  which  introduced 
steam  navigation,  changed  entirely  the  cost  and  the 
time  required  for  the  supply  of  foreign  products, 
and  thus  rapidly  reduced  prices,  leaving  less  margin 
to  the  merchant,  though  more  certainty  to  his  busi- 
ness. The  vacillating  action  of  the  government  at  one 
time  expanded  and  then  reduced  the  currency;  credit 
expanded  and  contracted  with  it,  so  that  those  who  pur- 
chased largely  on  credit  were  crushed  by  the  spasmodic 
contraction  of  the  commercial  machinery. 

About  this  time,  the  Bank  of  Cincinnati  came  into 
existence,  and  to  advance  his  new  projects,  he  and  his 
brother  borrowed  money  of  this  institution.  Banks 
were  then  popular,  and  to  get  money,  if  asked  for  by 
any  respectable  person,  from  a  bank  here  was  a  matter 
of  course.  The  proportion  of  bank  capital  then  em- 
ployed in  Cincinnati  was,  in  proportion  to  the  inhabit- 
ants, tenfold  what  it  now  is.  These  banks  having,  in 
the  aggregate,  more  than  a  million  of  capital,  issued 
notes  of  universal  credit  in  the  West — issued  notes 
without  stint,  as  to  quantity,  and  without  fear  of  any 
future  calamity.  In  this  state  of  things  Dr.  Drake  and 
his  brother  Benjamin  commenced  their  commercial  pur- 
suits, and  for  a  time  went  on  prosperously.  Their 
largest  capital  was  in  a  high  character  for  integrity, 
energy,  and  perseverance,  and  this  character  was  un- 
tainted by  any  of  the  unfortunate  events  which  always 
follow  in  the  train  of  adversity. 


106  LIFE  OF   DK.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

Immersed,  as  he  was,  in  these  business  affairs,  we  find 
him  one  of  the  most  active,  if  not  the  chief  leader,  in 
the  literary  enterprises  of  the  day.  In  April,  1814, 
he  writes:  "In  addition  to  iny  other  engagements, 
I  have  been  lately  much  employed  in  the  business  of 
the  Lancaster  Seminary,  of  which  I  am  the  Secre- 
tary, and  in  that  of  the  Library  Society,  of  which  I  am 
President." 

In  the  Lancaster  Seminary  he  was  always  much  in- 
terested. This  institution  was  the  original  foundation 
of  Cincinnati  College.  The  scheme  was  started  by  Dr. 
Joshua  L.  Wilson,  Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  in  1815  went  into  complete  operation,  with 
four  hundred  and  twenty  pupils,  others  being  rejected 
for  want  of  room.  The  building  was  erected  by  contri- 
butions among  the  citizens,  and  the  site  was  a  part  of 
what  was  originally  dedicated  as  a  public  square,  and 
then  in  the  possession  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The 
church  gave  a  perpetual  lease,  on  certain  conditions,  of 
the  quarter-square  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Fourth 
and  Walnut  streets.  The  building  of  Cincinnati  Col- 
lege (the  college  itself  is  in  abeyance)  now  occupies  the 
Walnut  street  front,  while  the  Fourth  street  side  is  built 
up  with  stores.  Of  this  Seminary  Dr.  Wilson  and  Dr. 
Drake  were  the  chief  promoters,  while,  as  subscribers  to 
its  fund,  may  be  found  the  names  of  the  oldest  and  best 
citizens  of  Cincinnati.  The  Library  Society  flourished 
for  many  years,  acquired  a  large  number  of  valuable 
books,  but  at  length  perished,  about  1830,  of  mere  vis 
inertia.  Of  all  the  literary  societies  and  literary  under- 
takings I  have  known — and  they  are  numerous — nine- 
tenths  died  in  the  first  five  years,  and  of  the  residue 
nine-tenths  are  perished  now.  For  this  there  are  two 


LITERARY   ENTERPRISES.  107 

sufficient  reasons,  in  addition  to  the  common  instability 
of  human  schemes.  One  is  the  extreme  mobility  and 
versatility  of  the  American  people,  which,  after  forming 
one  plan  of  literary  endeavor  in  one  place,  soon  impels 
them  to  other  plans  and  other  places.  The  other  and 
greatest  cause  of  instability  in  literary  enterprises  is, 
that  they  generally  make  no  alliance  with  Mammon, 
without  which  little  in  American  enterprise  is  perma- 
nent. In  other  words,  they  seldom  have  little  property, 
and  consequently  are  without  the  common  means  of  at- 
traction to  selfish  interests.  The  Lancastrian  Seminary, 
and  its  successor,  Cincinnati  College,  having,  by  its 
grant  from  the  church,  a  valuable  property,  has  pre- 
served a  nominal  life,  and  may  yet  be  made  useful.  But 
the  Library  Society,  the  Debating  Society,  the  School  of 
Literature  and  the  Arts,  (founded  about  the  same  time,) 
and  hundreds  of  successors,  similar  in  kind,  have,  like 
butterflies  of  a  spring,  terminated  their  ephemeral 
existence. 

The  period  now  drew  nigh  when  the  long-expected 
"  Picture  of  Cincinnati "  was  ushered  into  existence.  It 
was  dedicated  to  his  friend,  Colonel  Mansfield,  then 
Professor  of  Philosophy  at  West  Point,  and  was  well 
received  by  the  public.  It  seems  never  to  have  been 
very  popular  at  Cincinnati,  for  whose  benefit  it  was 
written  and  whose  growth  it  asserted.  But  it  was 
highly  praised  in  the  Atlantic  States,  and  made  its  way 
to  the  continent  of  Europe.  A  large  number  of  the 
copies  were  disposed  of  in  the  Eastern  cities,  but  I  have 
not  learned  that  it  was  profitable.  Probably  in  the  end 
there  was  little  of  either  gain  or  loss,  in  money,  by  its 
publication.  In  reputation,  however,  it  made  the  name 
of  Dr.  Drake  widely  known,  and  he  was  praised  in 


108  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

regions  where  Cincinnati  itself  had  been  before  unheard 
of.  In  its  scientific  survey  of  the  natural  history  and 
climate  of  the  Miami  valley,  it  is  still  unequaled  for  its 
correct  information,  and  remains  one  of  the  most  solid 
monuments  to  the  reality  of  his  genius,  and  the  extent 
of  his  research. 

So  closed,  in  his  life,  the  year  1815,  which,  finding 
him  amidst  labors,  cares,  and  schemes  of  various  kinds, 
has  left  him  happy  in  his  home,  a  successful  practitioner, 
an  active  citizen,  and  a  distinguished  author. 


CHAPTER  V, 

1815— 1818— His  Literary  Difficulties— Method  of  Study  and  Writing 
— Goes  a  second  time  to  the  University  of  Pennsylvania — Wistar 
Parties — Graduates — Has  an  extensive  Practice — Enters  into  Com- 
mercial Speculations — Is  attacked  with  Dyspepsia — Mode  of 
Treatment — Is  appointed  Professor  in  Lexington  Medical  School 
— Literary  Labors — Resigns  and  returns  to  Cincinnati. 

THE  publication  of  the  picture  of  Cincinnati  leads  me 
to  relate  the  difficulties  which  lay  in  the  way  of  his  au- 
thorship, or  of  any  continuous  study.  We  are  curious 
to  know  by  what  processes  of  thought  others  have  pre- 
ceded us  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge.  We  have  a 
lurking  desire  to  know  whether  they  have  pursued  paths 
we  cannot  pursue,  or  whether  they  do  not  owe  to  dili- 
gence what  we  have  attributed  to  genius. 

Dr.  Drake  labored,  in  early  life,  under  all  the  difficul- 
ties of  a  partial  and  defective  education.  At  fifteen, 
as  I  have  related,  his  literary  and  scientific  education,  as 
commonly  understood,  terminated  by  necessity.  Hence- 
forward, he  was  a  doctor's  boy,  or  young  practitioner, 
compelled  to  look  for  his  daily  bread,  and  unable  to 
attend  medical  schools,  or  procure  a  methodical 
course  of  science,  till  many  years  after  his  arrival  at 
Cincinnati. 

In  the  preparation  of  his  book  he  encountered,  there- 
fore, a  difficulty  in  the  want  of  systematized  knowledge  ; 
in  the  want  of  knowing  where  things  were  to  be  found, 
and  how  to  use  them.  This  difficulty  did  not  render  that 
book,  which  was  one  of  original  information,  less  valua- 
ble to  others,  but  it  made  it  more  laborious  to  himself. 

109 


110  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

The  whole  case  is  fully  stated  in  the  following  paragraph 
of  a  letter,  written  after  its  publication : 

"  I  have  not  written  to  you,  and  some  others,  for  a 
longer  time  than  I  ever  kept  silent  before.  The  reason 
for  this  Mr.  M.  will  understand  more  fully,  perhaps,  than 
any  other  of  my  correspondents,  as  his  experimental 
knowledge  of  the  perplexities  of  authorship  could  not  have 
left  him  ignorant  on  that  point.  But  even  Mr.  M.  is 
not  fully  prepared  to  imagine,  in  what  a  degree  of  embar- 
rassment I  have  been  immersed  for  six  months  past, 
unless  he  was  obliged  to  study  the  elements  of  the  sciences 
to  which  they  belong,  to  make  a  dozen  applications 
for  a  fact,  which  might  be  answered  in  as  many  words, 
to  exchange  the  inkstand  and  pen  for  the  lancet  and  galli- 
pot every  hour  in  the  day,  and  above  all  to  confront 
boldly  a  succession  of  pertinacious  duns.  Without  all 
this,  and  more,  he  could  not  experimentally  know  to  what 
I  have  been  subjected  this  summer.  In  the  midst  of  such 
difficulties  and  distractions,  greater  in  proportion,  I  sus- 
pect, than  those  in  which  Dr.  Johnson  composed  his 
folio  dictionary,  nothing  but  absolute  necessity  could 
have  kept  me  to  the  course" 

Another  difficulty  he  met  with  is  rather  a  singular  one. 
It  was  his  too  great  a  regard  to  accuracy.  With  great 
reverence  for  truth,  and  a  scientific  mind,  he  could  not 
bear  to  state  as  facts,  what  he  did  not  know,  or  knew 
but  vaguely.  But  nothing  is  more  common  than  the  in- 
accuracy with  which  men  observe  things,  or  the  exag- 
geration and  uncertainty  of  their  statements.  Hence,  as 
he  states  in  his  letter,  he  had  often  to  apply  many  times 
for  what  could  have  been  answered  at  once,  and  then 
to  examine  and  compare  the  accounts  received  with  those 
of  others. 


• 

HIS   LITERAEY   DIFFICULTIES.  Ill 

In  his  habits  of  intellectual  labor,  he  had  the  only  quali- 
ties which  could  successfully  overcome  such  difficulties — 
untiring  perseverance  and  ceaseless  industry.  But,  it 
may  be  asked,  how  can  one  who  practices  medicine, 
builds  houses,  deals  in  merchandize  and  founds  literary 
societies,  find  time  either  to  study  or  write  ?  No  common 
mind  could  have  done  it ;  it  would  have  been  confused 
in  the  complexity,  or  appalled  at  the  magnitude  of  its 
labors.  It  was  precisely  in  such  circumstances  that  he 
exhibited  the  extent  of  his  energy,  and  the  versatility  of 
his  resources.  In  fact,  to  study  or  write  under  the  pres- 
sure of  his  engagements,  was  only  possible  by  snatching 
every  moment,  night  or  day,  which  could  be  taken  from 
other  objects,  and  applying  his  mind,  in  these  scraps  of 
time,  with  the  vigor  of  a  student  who  was  never  interrupt- 
ed. Most  of  these  hours  of  literary  labor  were  taken 
from  the  night,  or  at  periods  of  domestic  occupation, 
when  he  was  confined  at  home.  It  has  happened,  not 
unfrequently,  that  he  was  found  sitting  by  his  wife  with 
an  infant  in  one  hand  and  writing  with  the  other,  by  the 
dim  light  of  a  dipped  candle,  for  those  were  not  the  days 
of  gas-burners.  Thus  his  writing  or  his  studies  proceed- 
ed by  snatches,  here  a  little  and  there  much,  as  he  could 
find  opportunity.  Fixed  hours  of  study  he  could  not 
have,  and  many  of  those,  in  which  he  accomplished 
most,  were  at  the  midnight  time,  when  the  world  slum- 
bers upon  its  toils,  and  the  student  and  the  watcher 
only  are  awake. 

When  the  "  Picture  of  Cincinnati "  was  fairly  dismissed 
from  his  hands,  his  active  and  ambitious  spirit  immedi- 
ately took  a  new  turn.  He  had  informed  his  friends,  in 
the  East,  a  year  before,  that  he  should  take  the  earliest 
possible  time  to  renew  his  attendance  on  the  medical 


112 


LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 


lectures  of  the  University  of  Philadelphia.  It  is  quite  pro- 
bable that  he  then  contemplated,  what  was  nearly  all  the 
remainder  of  his  life  a  darling  object,  the  teaching  of 
medicine  by  lectures,  which  implied  his  sooner  or  later 
becoming  a  professor  in  some  medical  institution.  To 
do  this  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  have  a  degree. 
If  such,  however,  was  his  design  then,  he  did  not  avow 
it ;  but  declared  the  necessity  of  renewing  his  stock  of 
medical  information,  as  the  main  purpose  of  his  second 
visit  to  Philadelphia.  Long  previous,  he  wrote :  "  You 
are  well  apprized  of  the  necessity  there  exists,  in  a  lite 
rary  and  professional  point  of  view,  of  my  visiting  Phila- 
delphia again.  That  necessity  I  find  every  day  to 
increase.  You  know  no  business  can  be  conducted 
without  renovating  the  capital  stock,  as  it  becomes 
wasted.  It  is  now  eight  years  since  I  commenced  the 
practice  of  physic,  which  is  a  trade  in  ideas,  and  I  begin 
seriously  to  feel  an  exhaustion  of  scientific  funds.  You 
will  be  surprised  that  I  have  not  felt  it  before.  In  truth 
I  have,  but  not  being  able  to  replenish  them,  I  said  but 
little,  being  willing,  like  all  others,  to  support  my  credit  as 
long  as  it  was  practicable." 

It  was  a  year  and  a  half  after  this  was  written,  that 
the  plan  was  perfected  and  carried  out.  For  this  pur- 
pose he  had  taken  his  brother  Benjamin  into  partnership, 
in  his  mercantile  establishment,  in  the  summer  of  1814. 
It  was  not,  however,  till  the  following  year,  that  he  could 
accomplish  his  object.  At  length,  in  October,  1815,  he 
and  his  wife  set  out  for  Philadelphia,  leaving  their  two 
children  at  home,  in  the  care  of  his  parents,  who  about 
this  time  removed  to  Cincinnati. 

In  journeying  to  the  East  they  met  with  a  severe  afflic- 
tion in  the  sickness  of  Mrs.  Drake,  who  was  taken  with 


*',       V  » 

'    to 
LITERATURE   IN   PHILADELPHIA.  113 

bilious  fever,  and  confined  three  weeks  at  Zanesville. 
In  consequence,  he  arrived  at  Philadelphia  two  weeks 
after  the  commencement  of  the  lectures,  and  was  pressed 
for  time  during  the  whole  course.  With  his  usual 
activity  he  managed,  however,  to  see  and  learn  all  that 
a  stranger  could  learn  in  so  short  a  period.  He  attended 
the  meetings  of  the  Philosophical  Society,  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  principal  literary  and  scientific  people, 
attended  to  binding  and  publishing  a  large  number  of 
his  books,  (which  had  been  sent  from  Cincinnati  in 
sheets,)  and,  with  a  view  to  his  future  commercial  ope- 
rations, looked  into  the  sales,  qualities,  and  prices  of 
goods.  In  the  midst  of  all  this  he  attended  the  lectures 
most  assiduously,  and  seems  to  have  been  in  some 
anxiety  as  to  his  examination  for  a  degree.  Coming 
from  the  "West,  where  literature  was  yet  in  its  infancy, 
and  with  a  great  awe  of  the  celebrated  University,  its 
learned  professors,  and  the  refined  society  of  Philadel- 
phia, he  very  naturally  expected  more  than  he  was  likely 
to  find  ;  for  it,  is  seldom  the  pictures  of  the  imagination 
are  equaled  by  the  reality.  Accordingly,  he  was  a  little 
disappointed  in  what  he  saw ;  but,  after  all,  found  much 
of  both  instruction  and  pleasure,  in  his  winter  at  Phila- 
delphia. Dr.  Wistar  had  then  commenced  what  was 
known  as  the  Wistar  Parties,  and  which  consisted 
of  a  re-union  of  the  most  intellectual  people  to  be  found 
in  Philadelphia.  His  house  was  for  a  long  time,  for 
men  of  mind  and  learning,  the  center  of  attraction  in 
Philadelphia.  Dr.  Drake  thus  speaks  of  them  :  "  I  do 
not  find  in  this  great  metropolis  such  an  active  literary 
zeal  as  I  expected  to  meet  with,  and,  having  been  very 
generally  introduced  to  the  savans,  I  must  acknowledge 
myself  somewhat  disappointed.  There  are,  however, 

10 


. 

114:  LIFE   OF  DK.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 


some  gentlemen  of  extensive  and  very  respectable  attain- 
ments. Dr.  Wistar,  the  Professor  of  Anatomy,  and 
President  of  the  Philosophical  Society,  is  both  a  scholar 
and  a  philosopher ;  not,  perhaps,  of  the  first  order,  but 
of  a  grade  which  entitles  him  to  distinction.  He  occu- 
pies, however,  the  very  first  rank  as  the  patron  of  litera- 
ture and  science.  Every  Saturday  night  he  has  a  sort 
of  levee  or  converzatione,  at  which  you  will  see  in  suc- 
cession, nearly  all  the  literati  of  the  city,  and  all  the 
distinguished  visitants.  I  have  spent  many  evenings 
with  him,  and  always  with  pleasure  and  improvement. 
"We  generally  have  there  the  Abbe  Correa,  of  whom  you 
have  probably  heard  something,  and  who  I  wish  you  could 
see.  He  is  unquestionably  a  man  of  very  great  attain- 
ments, with  powers  of  understanding  unusually  strong. 
He  is  a  Portuguese,  and  has  been  in  the  United  States 
about  four  years.  But  I  will  reserve  these  details  for 
the  happy  hours  I  promise  myself  in  your  society." 

The  society  of  which  he  here  spoke  was  that  of  his 
friend,  Colonel  M.,  whose  family  at  West  Point,  he  and 
Mrs.  Drake  rejoined  again,  for  a  brief  period,  after 
several  years  of  absence.  This  journey  and  visit,  how- 
ever, were  destined  to  have  more  than  one  disappoint- 
ment, and  be  followed  by  more  than  one  cloud.  Mrs. 
Drake's  severe  illness  had  required  nearly  the  whole 
winter  to  recover  from,  and  now  he  found  his  friend  dis- 
quieted with  the  sickness  of  a  child,  which  soon  after 
perished.  He  returned  to  Philadelphia,  to  hear  of  the 
death  of  his  son  John,  who  fell,  like  his  eldest  child  a 
victim  to  the  croup.  He  found  also  the  commencement 
over,  and  was  threatened,  moreover,  with  the  loss  of  his 
diploma,  which  had  been  the  great  object  of  his  visit  to 
Philadelphia.  The  faculty,  however,  granted  him  a 


,      ..  >-•••>•; 

•';,N    '  gPll  '  'ft"    *,£ 

HE   OBTAINS   HIS   DIPLOMA.  115 

separate  "commencement,"  and  he  received  the  first 
medical  degree  which  was  ever  conferred  on  a  citizen  of 
Cincinnati.  As  he  had  been  the  first  student,  so  he 
was  now  the  first  graduate  of  medicine  in  this  city. 

In  May,  1816,  he  returned  to  Cincinnati,  and  immedi- 
ately recommenced  an  active  and  profitable  practice. 
But  this  was  by  no  means  his  only  employment.  His 
mind  was  evidently  occupied  with  various  ambitious  plans 
—  professional,  commercial,  and  literary  —  all  of  which 
were  successively  developed  in  his  after  life,  and  influ- 
enced his  character  and  fortune  in  various  ways.  We 
have  seen  that  his  visit  to  Philadelphia  was  for  the 
double  purpose  of  enlarging  his  mind  by  new  informa- 
tion, and  of  obtaining  a  diploma,  wThich,  in  those  times, 
was  deemed  necessary  to  a  reputable  physician,  or  to 
competency  as  a  professor  in  medical  colleges.  We  have 
also  seen  that  he  was  engaged  in  mercantile  affairs.  In 
1814,  his  shop  on  Main  street,  opposite  Lower  Market, 
was  carried  on  by  the  firm  of  "  D.  Drake  &  Co.,  Drugs 
and  Medicines,"  the  "  Co."  being  his  brother  Benjamin. 

In  November,  1815,  when  about  to  go  to  Philadelphia, 
he  sold  out  the  drugs  and  medicines  to  Dr.  John  Woolley, 
but  seems  to  have  retained  his  store  which  he  owned. 
In  March,  1816,  the  store  was  re-opened  in  a  different 
line  of  business,  under  the  firm  of  Isaac  Drake  &  Co., 
Isaac  Drake  being  his  father,  who  had  now  removed  to 
Cincinnati.  The  business  was  now  that  of  dealing  in 
"  drygoods,  hardware,  and  groceries."  At  that  time 
there  was  no  division  of  labor  or  sales  among  merchants. 
Hardware  men  sold  groceries,  and  drygoods  men  sold 
books ;  and  more  frequently  the  same  merchants  sold 
samples  of  everything,  from  deer-skins  to  silks,  and  from 
Noah  Webster's  spelling  book,  (then  the  only  American 


116  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

spelling  book,)  to  sugar  and  molasses.  In  the  newspa- 
pers of  the  day,  there  was  but  one  firm  (that  of  Yeatman 
&  Anderson,)  which  advertised  groceries  only,  and  they 
seemed  to  deal  on  a  large  scale  for  the  times. 

The  idea  of  commencing  mercantile  business  was  con- 
nected intimately  with  Dr.  Drake's  visit  to  Philadelphia. 
He  undoubtedly  intended  this  when  he  sold  out  his  drug 
establishment,  and  while  in  Philadelphia  wrote  to  his 
brother  to  come  on  in  February,  and  make  his  purchases. 
He  was  strongly  impressed  with  the  idea,  that  goods  pur- 
chased then  would  sell  for  large  profits ;  for  he  said  they 
were  now  much  lower  than  they  had  been ;  and,  as  they 
would  get  them  out  early  in  the  spring,  they  could 
undersell  others.  As  this  idea,  so  felt  and  expressed,  was 
a  common  delusion  of  thousands  at  that  time,  and  as  it 
resulted  disastrously  to  most  of  them,  it  may  be 
instructive  to  examine  the  causes  which  produced  such 
effects. 

Peace  had  been  made  with  Great  Britain  in  the  be- 
ginning of  1815.  Previous  to  that  the  war  had  produced 
an  almost  complete  exclusion  of  European  goods.  The 
stocks  of  imported  woollens,  silks,  and  cottons,  had  been 
reduced  to  almost  nothing,  and  the  prices  were  enor- 
mously high.  In  the  mean  time  American  manufac- 
tures had  sprung  up,  and  it  was  the  fashion  of  the  day  to 
wear  American  fabrics.  Among  others,  the  Cincinnati 
Manufacturing  Company  had  gone  into  operation,  to  which 
Dr.  Drake  was  an  original  subscriber,  and  in  which  he 
now  held  shares.  Such  was  the  state  of  things  at  the 
close  of  the  war,  when  the  peace  at  once  broke  down  all 
barriers  against  the  importation  of  foreign  goods.  The 
consequence  was  that  the  country  was  immediately 
flooded  with  English  and  French  merchandize.  The 


EXPERIENCE   IN  MERCANTILE  AFFAIRS.  117 

prices  fell  rapidly.  American  manufacturing  establish- 
ments were  destroyed ;  but  at  the  same  time  a  great 
number  of  local  banks  were  established,  which,  by 
increasing  the  currency,  increased  also  the  general  ex- 
penditures, debts,  and  extravagancies. 

In  the  commencement  of  this  tide  of  cheap  goods, 
increased  expenses,  and  extended  credits,  Dr.  Drake  was 
in  Philadelphia,  and  entered  into  the  general  idea  that 
commercial  business  must  necessarily  be  profitable  ;  and, 
especially,  as  goods  were  comparatively  so  low  that  if 
they  could  be  got  out  to  Cincinnati  soon,  they  would  sell 
well.  He  had  not  then  the  experience  so  dearly  bought, 
which  enabled  him  in  after  times  to  see  the  fallacies  of 
speculative  reasoning  on  mercantile  affairs.  The  results 
which  took  place  were  inevitable.  The  continued  im- 
portations of  foreign  goods  depreciated  their  price  still 
further,  while  it  drained  the  country  of  coin.  The  ex- 
pended currency  had  to  be  contracted.  Credits  were 
destroyed,  debts  were  collected  by  force,  and  a  wide  and 
desolating  storm  swept  the  entire  country,  from  East  to 
West,  and  contined  from  1817  to  1823. 

At  this  period,  however,  was  the  high  noon  of  appa- 
rent prosperity.  Everybody  gave  and  took  credit ;  and 
nearly  everybody  engaged  in  some  sort  of  commercial 
business.  Physicians  became  merchants,  clergymen 
bankers,  and  lawyers  manufacturers.*  Farmers  and 
mechanics,  not  tempted  to  become  tradesmen  and  ban- 
kers, turned  their  attention  to  town-making — always 
a  thrifty  occupation  in  new  countries.  "Within  a  hun- 
dred miles  of  Cincinnati,  hundreds  of  new  towns  were 

*  Dr.  Drake,  Judge  Burnet,  General  Harrison,  Oliver  M.  Spencer, 
and  others,  in  different  professions,  were  founders  of  the  first  banks 
and  factories,  as  well  as  literary  institutions. 


118  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

laid  out,  all  of  which  were  guaranteed,  by  their  pro- 
prietors, to  have  unrivaled  advantages,  and  the  sure 
prospect  of  becoming  either  a  Rome  or  Venice.*  Re- 
cent geographies  do  not  recognize  the  existence  of  many 
of  them ;  but  this  is  not  surprising,  since  within  smaller 
orbits  they  may  have  performed  the  circuit  of  Tyre  or 
Nineveh,  in  rising  to  splendor  and  falling  to  decay. 

In  fine,  the  general  spirit  of  the  times  was  speculative 
and  commercial.  The  plans  of  Dr.  Drake,  as  well  as 
others,  were  favored  by  the  banking  facilities  of  Cincin- 
nati at  that  time.  Banks  had  not  then  learned  the  neces- 
sity of  contraction  under  a  pressure  of  demands,  and 
were  ready  to  loan  when  there  was  a  good  endorser.  The 
doctor  sold  his  shares  in  the  Cincinnati  Manufacturing 
Company,  now  verging  to  ruin,  parted  with  some  real 
estate,  negotiated  some  loans,  and  commenced  his  store. 
One  of  his  first  operations  was  the  first  of  its  kind,  I 
think,  in  the  West.  While  in  Philadelphia,  he  had 
purchased  an  apparatus  for  making  mineral  water,  with 
cylinders  and  chemicals  necessary  for  that  purpose. 
Accordingly,  in  May,  1816,  the  firm  of  Isaac  Drake  & 
Co.  announced  that  they  were  ready  to  furnish  artificial 
mineral  water,  prepared  in  the  best  manner.  To  the 
people  of  Cincinnati,  who  had  not  yet  arrived  even  at 
the  luxury  of  ice  in  summer,  it  must  have  been  a  most 
refreshing  and  startling  announcement,  to  be  told  that 
they  could  henceforth  drink  the  nectar  of  soda  water! 

This  was  a  small  benefaction,  but  it  is  one  which  may 
well  be  remembered  to  the  credit  of  his  enterprise  in  a 
new  pursuit.  The  town  has  since  made  many  greater 
advances  in  civilization,  but  mineral  waters  are  still 

*  See  the  "Liberty  Hall  "  of  1816-17-18-19. 


COMMERCIAL   DIFFICULTIES  —  PROFESSORSHIP.        119 

among  its  acknowledged  comforts.  The  result  of  the 
summer's  business  to  the  firm  of  Isaac  Drake  &  Co., 
was  not  such  as  had  been  confidently  anticipated. 
Writing,  in  November  following,  in  reference  to  the 
negotiation  of  a  loan,  the  doctor  said:  "It  will  be  an 
advantage  and  a  comfort  to  me,  of  which  you  can  form 
no  conception.  The  present  is  a  most  difficult  and 
trying  time  in  the  commercial  world,  and  is  likely  to 
continue  for  many  months,  after  which  we  shall  do  well 
enough."  So  he  and  the  most  intelligent  people  then 
thought ;  but  the  months  were  run  into  years,  and  the 
"well  enough"  was  at  a  remote  period.  He  said  that 
his  debts  in  Philadelphia  were  coming  due,  while  the 
goods  he  bought  remained  unsold.  From  the  difficulties 
of  the  moment  he  extricated  himself  only,  in  subse- 
quent years,  to  be  plunged  into  greater.  In  the  mean 
while,  however,  his  professional  reputation  was  ex- 
tended, his  practice  large,  and  he  became  eminent  in 
medicine  and  science. 

The  year  1817  ushered  him  into  new,  and,  in  after 
time,  the  most  important  relations  of  his  public  life.  In 
January  of  that  year,  he  accepted  a  professorship  in  the 
Medical  College  at  Lexington,  and  soon  after  com- 
menced his  long  and  distinguished  career  as  a  public 
teacher  of  medicine.  This  event  he  announces  to  an  old 
and  intimate  friend  with  evident  satisfaction :  "  I  am  now 
going  to  astonish  you — so  cling  hold  of  every  support 
within  your  reach — I  am  a  Professor!  Yes,  incredible 
as  it  may  appear  to  you  and  my  other  intimate  friends,  / 
am  really  and  lonafide  appointed  a  Professor,  and  I  re- 
peat it  on  this  side  of  the  sheet,  to  save  you  the  trouble 
of  turning  back  to  see  whether  your  eyes  did  not  deceive 
you.  I  am,  let  me  repeat,  unquestionably  a  Professor; 


120  LIFE   OF  DR.    DANIEL  DRAKE. 

but  you  must  not  suppose,  by  this,  I  am  a  great  man. 
For  a  professorship  to  confer  greatness,  it  must  be  a 
professorship  in  a  great  institution.  But  that  does  not 
happen  to  be  the  case  in  this  instance.  In  Lexington, 
(Ky.,)  there  has  been  for  many  years  an  incorporated 
seminary,  styled  the  Transylvania  University.  It  has 
ample  endowments,  but  very  little  celebrity.  The  trus- 
tees are,  however,  engaged  in  the  erection  of  a  large 
and  elegant  college  edifice,  and  have  established  a 
faculty  of  medicine,  as  well  as  a  faculty  of  the  arts. 
The  professorship  of  materia  medica  and  botany  is  the 
one  they  have  offered  to  me,  and  five  days  ago  I  signi- 
fied my  acceptance.  I  am  not,  however,  about  to  move 
thither,  but  calculate  to  be  suffered  to  spend  my  winters 
there,  and  the  rest  of  the  year  in  this  place.  You  will, 
of  course,  feel  alarmed  for  my  professional  interests 
here,  but  they  are,  I  think,  pretty  well  secured.  My 
old  master,  Dr.  Goforth,  has  returned  to  this  place,  and 
knowing  his  popularity,  and  that  he  would  form  a  part- 
nership with  some  person,  I  proposed  such  a  connection 
with  myself,  and  on  the  first  instant  it  commenced.  He 
will  attend  to  our  united  business  in  winter,  and  I  shall, 
for  two  or  three  years,  at  least,  be  at  liberty  to  pursue 
my  studies  without  interruption.  If  the  trustees  should 
be  displeased  with  my  residing  here,  I  will  resign,  as  I 
have  no  wish  to  exchange  Cincinnati  for  Lexington." 

This  was  the  commencement  of  his  career  as  a 
teacher  of  medicine.  It  was  also  the  commencement  of 
the  Medical  College  at  Lexington.  The  latter  was  the 
first  established  in  the  West,  and  owes  its  origin  chiefly 
to  the  public  spirit  and  exertions  of  Dr.  Benjamin  W. 
Dudley,  the  eminent  surgeon.  Lexington  had  been 
called  the  Athens  of  the  West,  while  Cincinnati  was  a 


CINCINNATI   AND   LEXINGTON.  121 

village,  and  there  was  a  laudable  ambition  to  build  up 
and  sustain  institutions  worthy  of  that  name.  Lexing- 
ton was  then  very  nearly  the  same  size,  and  supposed  to 
be  equally  prosperous  with  Cincinnati.*  Their  very 
different  career  and  progress  since  could  not  have  been 
anticipated  fully  by  any  one  not  prophetically  inspired ; 
and  it  will  appear,  in  the  course  of  this  memoir,  that  to 
Dr.  Drake  and  a  few  others  like  him,  of  public  spirit 
and  discernment,  no  small  part  of  this  difference  is  due; 
for,  after  giving  to  the  commerce  derived  from  the  Ohio 
river  its  full  weight,  very  much  of  the  prosperity  and 
growth  of  Cincinnati  is  due  to  the  artificial  improve- 
ments, whose  long  arms,  stretching  to  the  interior, 
poured  the  wealth  of  the  country  into  this  .central  city, 
and  gave  excitement  and  support  to  its  manufacturing 
industry. 

To  Lexington,  however,  is  due  the  credit  of  founding 
the  first  medical  college  in  the  West,  and  the  sagacity 
to  see  and  value  the  superior  talents  of  Dr.  Drake.  He 
and  Dr.  Dudley  were  now  the  rising  stars  of  the  medi- 
cal profession  in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio.  They  were 
both  medical  teachers,  and  remained  so  for  nearly  the 
whole  period  since.  They  had  both  become  eminent  in 
that  capacity,  and  in  the  practice  of  medicine.  But  in 
other  respects  they  were  widely  different.  Dr.  Dudley, 
by  confining  himself  more  exclusively  to  his  profession, 
and  to  some  special  branches  of  it,  has  acquired  a 
world-wide  reputation,  in  those  subjects  surpassed  by 

*  In  1814,  Lexington  contained  about  6,000  inhabitants.  Cincin- 
nati did  not  contain  more  than  8,000,  if  so  many.  Lexington  has 
now  about  8,000.  The  difference,  at  the  present  day,  has  been  pro- 
duced chiefly  by  the  difference  of  location.  Cincinnati,  being  on 
the  Ohio  river,  drew  the  trade  of  the  interior  to  itself. 

11 


122  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL  DRAKE. 

none.  Dr.  Drake,  on  the  contrary,  then  and  afterwards, 
was  ambitious  of  a  wider  range.  He  aspired  to  be  the 
eminent  citizen,  as  well  as  the  eminent  physician.  His 
mind  was  naturally  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  science, 
for  he  was  a  lover  of  nature,  from  which  science  springs, 
and  thus  his  discerning  mind  carried  him  into  various 
regions  of  knowledge,  and  his  reputation  was  as  much 
that  of  a  man  of  science  as  that  of  a  physician.  It  was 
probably  the  intimate  knowledge  of  botany,  and  the  love 
of  natural  science  displayed  in  the  Picture  of  Cincin- 
natati,  which  procured  his  appointment  as  Professor  of 
Materia  Medica  in  the  new  University  of  Transylvania. 

The  new  school  did  not  commence  its  operations  till 
the  following  winter,  so  that  he  had  ample  time  to  make 
his  arrangements,  and  pursue  his  avocations.  He  had 
formed  a  partnership,  as  I  have  related,  with  his  old 
friend  Goforth  ;  but  it  had  a  very  brief  existence.  Go- 
forth,  almost  immediately,  was  taken  with  an  acute 
affection  of  the  liver,  acquired  in  his  long  voyage  up  the 
river,  and  died  in  the  following  May.  At  this  time  Dr. 
Drake's  practice  was  large  and  lucrative.  In  one  of  his 
letters  he  stated  it  at  the  rate  of  seven  thousand  dollars 
per  annum.  The  town  had  then  but  ten  thousand  in- 
habitants, and  there  were  fifteen  or  twenty  physicians. 
His  practice  was  then  comparatively  as  large  as  it  would 
be  if  double  that  amount  now. 

About  this  period  he  had  a  very  severe  attack  of  dys- 
pepsia, a  complaint  chiefly  prevalent  among  literary  and 
professional  men,  and  which  advanced  civilization  has 
increased.  It  has  various  causes ;  but,  setting  aside 
those  cases  which  arise  from  the  presence  of  some  other 
disease,  they  may  be  all  reduced  to  one  general  formula, 
viz:  the  too  great  excitement  of  the  nerves  through  the 


DYSPEPSIA.  123 

brain,  and  the  too  little  exercise  of  the  muscles   by 
bodily  work.     There  are  numerous  cases  called  dyspep- 
sia which  arise  from  other  causes — most  of  them  from 
other  diseases  of  the  body,  exciting  gastric  disturbance. 
In  Dr.  Drake's  case,  his  profession  undoubtedly  furnished 
considerable  exercise  ;  but  his  literary  pursuits,  his  mid- 
night studies,  and  his  numerous  cares,  were  continually 
exhausting  his  nervous  energy,  sometimes  showing  its 
effects  in  the  torpidity  of  the  gastric  organs,  and  some- 
times in  an  oppression  on  the  brain.     For  such  diseases 
there  is  no  remedy  but  the  removal  of  the  causes,  a  dimi- 
nution of   the  nervous   action,   and    a  change    from 
sedentary  to  active  habits  of  life.     Dyspepsia  is  like  con- 
sumption or  rheumatism — the  opprolium  of  the  medical 
profession,  for  it  is  beyond  the  art  of  medicine,  and  is  only 
within  the  reach  of  natural  means.     Drake's  treatment 
of  his  own  case  will  show  what  he   thought  of  the 
hygienic  treatment  applicable  to  dyspepsia  in  those  days. 
On  the  30th  of  May,  he  writes :  "  From  the  latter  part 
of  December  to  the  10th  or  12th  of  this  month,  my 
dyspepsia  increased   alarmingly,   and   I   decreased   in 
weight  until  I  was  twenty  pounds  lighter  than  when  I 
was  in  my  twenty-first  year.     I  have  at  length  adopted  a 
course  of  diet,  exercise,  and  regimen,  which  has  produced 
a  promising  effect ;  and,  when  on  the  eve  of  abandoning 
my  profession,   and   journeying    with    my  family  till 
restored,  I  have  been  prevented,  and   encouraged   to 
trudge  forward  as  usual,  by  the  occurrence  of  several 
indications  of  returning  health.     I  have  not  tasted  coffee 
or  tea  for  six  weeks,  nor  any  kind  or  variety  of  bread 
for  nearly  five.     I   cannot  drink   wine,  brandy,  cider, 
beer,  or  porter ;  and  my  only  beverage  is  a  table  spoon- 
ful of  old  whisky,  with  a  tumbler  of  hot  water,  three 


LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

times  a  day,  with  my  meals.  The  only  food  I  take  be- 
sides meat  and  eggs,  is  a  little  boiled  rice  with  cream 
and  molasses,  by  way  of  dessert.  I  have  quit  walking 
and  running,  and  travel  over  the  town  in  a  gig.  I  study 
scarcely  at  all,  and  sleep  as  much  as  possible.  From 
these  causes  I  have  begun,  within  three  weeks,  to  feel 
decidedly  better,  and  am  sanguine  in  my  expectations 
of  being  able  to  prosecute  my  business  till  the  time 
arrives  for  me  to  repair  to  the  University  at  Lexington, 
whither  I  have  resolved  to  go,  notwithstanding  the  death 
of  Dr.  Goforth,  whether  I  should  get  a  partner  or  not. 
My  constitution  requires  an  occasional  release  from  the 
fatigues  of  practice,  and  this  cannot  be  had  in  any  other 
way  so  well." 

Under  the  regimen  above  described  he  got  better,  and 
in  the  following  winter,  at  Lexington,  was  completely 
restored,  regaining  his  flesh  with  as  much  rapidity  as  he 
had  lost  it.  When  we  examine  his  regimen,  it  is  reduced 
to  three  principles ;  first^  the  abstinence  from  study , 
which  lessened  the  nervous  exhaustion,  and  allowed  the 
mind  time  to  recruit ;  secondly r,  the  dietetic  stimulation^ 
by  confining  himself  to  meat  and  taking  a  little  alcohol ; 
and  thirdly ',  exercise  by  riding.  This  corresponds  very 
well  with  the  received  theory  for  the  cure  of  dyspepsia. 
A  modern  physician,  however,  would  have  substituted 
brandy  for  whisky,  and  informed  his  patient  that  it  was 
by  no  means  necessary  to  be  so  abstinent  from  bread. 
It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  doctor  makes  no  mention 
of  medicine,  notwithstanding  the  common  commenda- 
tion of  blue  pills  and  bitters.  Several  years  after  this, 
when  he  was  again  attacked,  he  tried  the  much  talked 
of  white  mustard  seed,  but  with  no  effect.  His  dys- 
pepsia gradually  wore  off,  but  was  alternated  with  an 


HIS   REGIMEN   AND   DIET.  125 

oppression  on  the  brain,  which,  in  several  instances, 
proved  dangerous,  and  finally  terminated  his  life.  How- 
ever numerous  (and  they  are  very  many)  the  cases  in 
which  the  skill  of  medicine  can  afford  either  relief  or 
cure,  it  is  a  reality  that  it  can  neither  avert  disease  from 
human  nature,  nor  prevent  its  fatality. 

The  immediate  effect  of  the  diet  and  regimen  adopted 
by  Dr.  Drake,  I  shall  here  record  for  the  benefit  of  those 
who  may  be  inclined  to  try  the  experiment.  As  he 
states  himself,  at  the  end  of  six  weeks  Jie  was  consider- 
ably better,  but  the  disease  was  not  cured ;  in  fact,  never 
cured.  At  Lexington,  however,  living  a  quiet  life  in 
cheerful  society,  he  become  rapidly  better,  and  writes 
that  "  a  full  die^  exemption  from  care,  and  ten  hours 
sleep  in  the  twenty -four,  and  no  exercise  except  that 
of  chewing,  seems  to  have  had  a  general  and  restora- 
tive effect  on  my  constitution" 

Here  we  find  the  doctor  reversing  the  whole  of  his 
remedial  course,  and  getting  well  under  it !  Can  the 
medical  profession  explain  this?  .It  seems,  however, 
very  plain,  that  the  strength  of  digestion  had  nearly  been 
restored  by  his  diet  and  regimen ;  but  that  the  conse- 
quences of  that  treatment  were  only  visible  when  he 
gave  freedom  to  his  mind  and  his  appetite.  He  himself, 
however,  ascribes  it  to  a  different  cause.  Writing  in 
December,  (1817,)  he  says :  u  My  health  has  been  im- 
proved very  much  since  we  came  here.  I  ascribe  it 
entirely  to  a  complete  exemption  from  the  fatigues  and 
irregularities  of  professional  life,  and  hope  by  the  end 
of  the  session,  to  be  prepared  for  resuming  my  profes- 
sion. I  already  weigh  an  eighth  part  more  than  I  did 
last  summer,  and  have  not  had  a  paroxysm  since  I 
reached  Lexington." 


126  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

The  paroxysms  of  dyspepsia  in  his  case,  as  in  all  others, 
were  alike  mysterious,  irregular,  and  unaccountable. 
We  know  that  this  disease  is  attached  almost  exclusively 
to  persons  of  sedentary  or  in -door  life.  When  it  occurs 
in  others  it  is  in  consequence  of  great  mental  anxiety,  or 
of  irregular  and  exhausting  habits.  I  have  dwelt  on  the 
subject  here  because  it  must  always  be  interesting  to  know 
how  an  eminent  physician  treats  this  disorder  in  his  own 
case.  I  have  related  previously  that  the  disease  recurred 
to  him  in  years  after,  when  he  was  again  subject  to  great 
anxiety  and  distress  of  mind,  and  that  he  tried  the 
white  mustard  seed,  then  so  much  in  vogue.  It  proved, 
however,  utterly  useless,  as  all  mechanical  medicines 
have. 

After  his  improvement  under  the  dietetic  course,  he 
abandoned  his  intention  of  traveling,  and  his  partner- 
ship with  Goforth  being  terminated  by  the  death  of  the 
latter,  continued  his  practice  with  assiduity  and  success. 
It  was  never  greater,  and  his  professional  receipts 
during  this  season  were  large.  At  length,  in  November, 
the  time  came  for  him  to  assume  the  chair  of  a  professor 
at  Lexington.  On  his  arrival  there,  one  of  those  strange 
difficulties  occurred,  which  happen  only  in  the  medical 
profession.  One  of  the  four  or  five  professors  appointed 
had  not  received  a  regular  medical  diploma.  Two  of 
the  professors  immediately  took  the  ground  that  they 
could  not  associate  with  him  as  teacher  without  such 
degree !  Notwithstanding  he  must  have  had  a  decided 
reputation  to  have  been  appointed,  and  notwithstanding 
the  trustees  had  endorsed  that  reputation,  and  considered 
him  of  sufficient  skill  to  teach  others,  yet  his  colleagues 
took  it  upon  themselves  to  exclude  him  by  a  punctilio! 
Dr.  Drake  seems  to  have  been  in  favor  of  his  reception. 


AMBITION  AS   A  TEACHER.  127 

and  accordingly  the  professor  was  received,  with  a  sort 
of  protest  against  such  irregularity. 

Dr.  Drake  was  now  introduced  to  a  new,  and,  I  may 
add,  favorite  theater  for  his  intellectual  exertions.  He 
frequently  said,  in  after  time,  that  if  there  was  any  one 
thing  he  had  a  strong  taste  and  peculiar  qualification 
for,  it  was  that  of  teaching  medicine.  He  was  ambi- 
tious of  being  a  successful  and  popular  teacher;  and 
this  fact  is  the  key  to  his  repeated  and  often,  to  himself, 
disastrous  attempts  to  build  up  and  sustain  medical  col- 
leges. To  be  an  eminent  and  successful  teacher  of 
medicine,  he  must  be  in  a  medical  college,  and  that 
college  must  be  a  reputable  and  popular  one.  It  could 
only  be  so  when  conducted  by  men  of  ability,  of  genius, 
learning,  and  enthusiasm.  These  are  rarely  to  be  found ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  those  who  make  their  profes- 
sion subsidiary  to  gain,  and  who  engage  in  low  intrigues 
for  power  and  place  are  numerous,  and  ever  in  the  way 
of  those  who  are  truly  loyal  to  the  great  ends  of  science 
and  of  usefulness.  Hence  it  was  that  Dr.  Drake, 
aiming  to  build  up  a  great  institution  in  the  West, 
which  should  alike  receive  from  and  confer  honor  on 
its  builders,  was  so  often  led  into  controversy,  and  dis- 
appointed in  his  plan  and  hope  of  building  up  a  noble, 
eminent,  and  beneficent  institution  for  the  study  of  medi- 
cine in  the  metropolis  of  the  Ohio  valley. 

I  shall  not  anticipate  his  efforts  and  struggles  for  that 
purpose,  but  accompany  him  now  in  his  first  entrance 
into  the  forum  of  medical  instruction — a  theater  in 
which  he  was  to  act  a  distinguished  part  for  the  next 
third  of  a  century. 

The  first  medical  class,  which  assembled  in  what 
was  afterwards  the  great  medical  school  of  Lexington, 


128  LIFE   OF  DR.    DANIEL  DRAKE. 

consisted  of  only  twenty  students.  Dr.  Drake  was 
Professor  of  Materia  Medica.  How  he  first  commenced 
his  preparations  as  a  lecturer  I  am  not  informed,  but 
his  habit  was  never  to  prepare  much  beforehand ;  for  he 
was  always  too  busy  to  spare  much  time  for  the  future. 
Accordingly,  he  composed  nearly,  if  not  quite  all,  his 
lectures  at  Lexington.  He  said  to  his  brother,  "I  have 
made  the  experiment,  and  find  that  I  have  not  impu- 
dence enough  to  transcribe,  verbatim  et  literatim,  a 
course  of  lectures  from  the  books;  I  have,  therefore,  to 
compose  them  de  novo,  and  find  myself  busy  enough." 
No  man  was  more  original  in  his  modes  of  thought,  or 
would  be  more  likely  to  make  a  path  of  his  own  in 
lecturing.  Writing  to  another  friend,  six  weeks  only 
after  the  commencement  of  the  lectures,  he  said:  "My 
duties  in  the  college  occupy  me  very  closely.  I  have 
composed  three  hundred  and  fifty  pages  since  the  lec- 
tures commenced,  and  must  produce  about  five  hundred 
more  between  this  and  the  1st  of  March."  This  is 
about  ten  pages  of  composition  to  each  working  day! 
Allowing,  as  was  the  case,  for  a  diffuse  hand-writing, 
this  was,  nevertheless,  an  extraordinary  amount  of  lite- 
rary labor  to  be  performed  in  such  a  time.  Such,  how- 
ever, was  his  great  industry  and  his  fluency  of  composi- 
tion, that  in  many  subsequent  years  he  produced,  in  the 
form  of  lectures,  speeches,  pamphlets,  and  books,  an 
equal  amount  of  literary  work. 

Thus  engaged,  in  the  commencement  of  his  career 
as  a  public  teacher,  with  his  family  around  him,  and  in 
cheerful,  agreeable  society,  his  health  improved,  his 
mind  expanded,  and  his  ambition  formed  extensive 
plans  for  the  future. 

For  some  reason,  not  publicly  disclosed,  he  changed 


RESIGNATION   OF  HIS   PROFESSORSHIP.  129 

r 

his  views  in  reference  to  the  school  at  Lexington.  On 
his  first  arrival  there,  he  had  entered  with  zeal  into  the 
designs  of  its  projectors,  and  contemplated  a  return  in 
the  following  winter.  "On  the  23d  of  March,  (he 
writes,)  being  dissatisfied  with  the  medical  college,  and 
not  relishing  the  idea  of  a  removal  to  a  strange  town,  of 
prospects  inferior  to  those  of  Cincinnati,  I  resigned  my 
professorship." 

This  resignation  is  the  date  of  his  plans  of  public 
enterprise  for  Cincinnati — for  the  building  up  of  another 
medical  college — and  of  the  efforts,  labors,  controversies, 
and  successes  of  the  next  thirty  years,  which  established 
his  own  reputation,  and  did  not  a  little  for  the  remarka- 
ble growth  and  prosperity  of  Cincinnati.  A  remarkable 
contrast  in  the  growth  of  towns  is  suggested  by  the 
remark  that  Lexington  was  inferior  to  Cincinnati.  In 
1810,  Lexington  was  equal  to  Cincinnati.  In  1814,  it 
was  called  the  Athens  of  the  West,  and  looked  upon  as 
one  of  the  most  promising  towns  which  had  then  begun 
to  dot  the  valley  of  the  Ohio.  Now  Cincinnati  is  a 
great  city,  and  Lexington  little  more  than  a  county  town. 
Steam  commerce  on  one  hand,  and  the  unceasing  efforts 
of  such  citizens  as  Dr.  Drake,  have  made  the  village 
town  of  1810  the  Queen  City  of  1850.  In  this  wonder- 
ful change,  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that,  while  the 
natural  advantages  of  this  city  are  very  great,  in  posi- 
tion and  resources,  ft  has  derived  its  greatest  success 
from  the  sagacity,  labors,  zeal,  enterprise,  and  patriotism, 
of  citizens  who  knew  how  to  use  them.  A  community 
without  such  citizens  may  have  all  the  wealth  of  nature 
bestowed  upon  it,  but  will  in  vain  aspire  to  anything 
great  in  itself  or  renowned  abroad. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


1818  — 1822  —  Cincinnati  in  1818  —  Foundation  of  its  Literary 
Institutions  —  Commencement  of  its  Steamboat  Trade  and  Iron 
Manufactures — Judge  Burnet  —  Martin  Baum —  Ethan  Stone  — 
Dr.  Drake  founds  the  Medical  College  and  Hospital  —  His  Con- 
troversies— Is  Dismissed  from  the  College  and  Contemplates 
Removal. 

IN  the  spring  of  1818  Dr.  Drake  returned,  after  his 
•winter's  sojourn  in  Lexington,  to  his  practice  in  Cincin- 
nati—  now  quite  extensive.  But  neither  his  large 
business  nor  his  recent  arduous  labor  of  composition,  nor 
his  domestic  cares,  abated  in  the  least  the  activity  of  his 
enterprise,  or  the  fertility  of  his  mind,  in  devising  new 
plans.  He  saw  in  the  rapid  growth  of  Cincinnati  and 
the  Ohio  valley,  the  necessity  for  new  literary,  scientific, 
and  benevolent  institutions  ;  and  while  others  were  solely 
bent  on  increasing  their  fortunes,  he  sought  to  found 
these  institutions,  and  by  promoting  the  welfare  of 
society  to  increase  his  own  fame  and  usefulness.  In  re- 
signing his  professorship,  he  had  said  that  he  could  not 
consent  to  remove  permanently  to  Lexington,  for  Cin- 
cinnati offered  far  superior  advantages.  In  fact,  there 
was  something  very  exciting  and  imposing  in  the  rapid 
and  powerful  growth  of  the  young  metropolis  of  Ohio. 
It  was  no  wonder  that  it  stimulated  his  energies,  nor 
that  he  reasonably  hoped  that  its  growth  would  promote 
his  own,  and  enlarge  the  reputation  of  whoever  should 
be  identified  with  its  early  history  and  progress. 

Four  years  previously  he  had  given  to  the  world  the 
"  Picture  of  Cincinnati ; "  but  now  Cincinnati  was  no 
130 


IMPROVEMENT  OF  CINCINNATI.  131 

more  the  same.  Four  or  five  years  had  made  great 
changes.  A  part  of  this  change  he  thus  describes: 
"  You  will  infer  from  this  rapid  sketch  of  our  literary 
history,  that  Cincinnati  continues  to  advance.  This  is  so 
strikingly  the  case,  that  if  you  were  here  you  would  per- 
ceive in  its  present  aspect  a  great  contrast  with  what  it 
exhibited  six  years  ago.  Two  steamboats  have  been 
completed  at  this  place  within  the  last  eight  months,  and 
seven  more  are  now  on  the  stocks.  The  engines  for 
them  and  all  the  iron  machinery  are  made  at  an  ex- 
tensive iron  foundry,  between  our  old  house  and  the 
river.  The  town  generally,  has  undergone  great  altera- 
tions. All  the  principal  streets  will  in  a  short  time  be 
paved.  A  horse  ferry-boat  has  been  built,  and  greatly 
facilitates  our  intercourse  with  Newport  and  Covington. 
Our  two  old  newspapers  have  been  enlarged  to  an  impe- 
rial size,  and  a  third  will  be  commenced  on  Tuesday 
next." 

This  account  suggests  a  very  remarkable  transition, 
whether  as  connected  with  its  then  past,  or  its  future,  the 
present.  As  a  town,  Cincinnati  had  then  scarcely  fifteen 
years  of  existence ;  for  its  real  progress  did  not  com- 
mence till  1805.  The  steamboats  here  mentioned  had 
110  existence  till  1812.  Pavements  had  scarcely  been 
heard  of  in  the  war ;  and,  in  fact,  the  five  or  six  years 
here  mentioned  was  the  period  of  beginning  to  nearly 
all  the  commercial  and  manufacturing  enterprises  of  this 
place.  The  first  steamboat  built  at  Cincinnati  was  the 
"  Vesta,"  built  in  1816.  Two  were  built  in  1817,  and 
in  1818-19  eight  were  launched.  Prior  to  1820  there 
were  but  eleven  steamboats  built  in  Cincinnati.  Since 
then  hundreds  have  been  launched,  and  there  are  thou- 
sands of  arrivals  and  departures  at  this  port  in  each  year. 


132  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

The  machine  shop  of  which  Dr.  Drake  speaks,  was 
probably  that  of  Mr.  Shields,  on  the  east  side  of  Syca- 
more, between  Front  and  Columbia  (Second)  streets. 
About  this  time  a  great  boiler  and  foundry  establishment 
was  erected  on  the  corner  of  Congress  and  Ludlow 
streets,  by  the  firm  of  "  Burnet,  Findley  &  Harrison," 
then  as  well  known  in  commercial,  as  they  have  been 
since  distinguished  in  public  affairs.  They  should  be 
remembered  as  much  for  what  they  did  in  business  and 
enterprise,  as  for  what  they  accomplished  in  politics,  the 
army,  or  at  the  bar. 

JUDGE  BURNET,  then,  and  for  a  long  time,  a  most  ex- 
tensive and  successful  practitioner  at  the  bar,  was,  after 
the  war  had  terminated,  and  the  smiles  of  peace  and 
commercial  prosperity  were  renewed,  one  of  the  earliest 
to  encourage  our  native  manufactures,  and  originate  our 
financial  institutions.  He  was  one  of  the  original 
stockholders  of  the  Miami  Exporting  Company,  in  which 
he  held  and  lost  at  its  winding  up  a  large  number  of 
shares.  He  was  one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  the 
first  iron  foundry,  of  the  first  sugar  refinery,  and  of  the 
woollen  factory.  In  the  disastrous  storm  of  1819-20-21- 
'22,  all  these  companies  were  broken  up,  and  their 
property  either  sold  or  greatly  depreciated.  In  these 
various  losses  his  own  was  full  eighty  thousand  dollars, 
which  swept  away  the  accumulation  of  twenty  years' 
successful  business  at  the  bar.  In  the  mean  time,  how- 
ever, he  had  bought  several  lots  in  town,  and  tracts  of 
land  in  the  neighborhood,  which,  by  careful  nursing,  re- 
vived and  increased  his  fortune.  In  1825,  he  parted  to 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  for  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars,  in  payment  of  his  debt,  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful and  valuable  squares  in  Cincinnati;  and  which 


MAKTIN  BAUM.  133 

the  people  were  in  vain  urged  to  buy  at  that  price  for 
the  use  of  the  city.  On  that  square  now  stands  the 
Burnet  House,  and  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church. 
The  total  want  of  sagacity,  as  well  as  economy,  mani- 
fested by  city  corporations  was  in  this  instance  most 
strikingly  exhibited.  Both  Judge  Burnet  and  Dr. 
Drake,  with  other  enlightened  citizens,  were  in  favor  of  its 
purchase  by  the  city ;  and  time  has  proved  the  correct- 
ness of  their  judgment,  and  the  misfortune  of  the  city, 
in  the  loss  of  what  would  have  been  so  beautiful  and 
refreshing  a  spot  to  its  inhabitants. 

On  the  breaking  up  of  these  establishments,  most  of 
the  citizens  engaged  in  them  ceased  to  enter  into  com- 
mercial or  manufacturing  business.  In  fact,  many  of 
them  had  not  the  means,  and  such  business  was  foreign 
to  that  in  which  they  were  engaged.  They  were  some- 
times reproached  in  after  times  by  those  who  had  since 
migrated  to  the  city,  with  holding  themselves  aloof  from 
public  enterprises;  but  in  fact  they  had  already  done 
more  than  those  who  followed  them,  and  paid  their  full 
contribution  to  the  public  interest. 

Among  the  citizens  of  this  class,  who  stood  foremost 
in  good  works,  was  MARTIN  BAUM,  one  of  the  earliest 
and  best  merchants  of  this  region.  He  was  a  native  of 
Germany,  and  commenced  business  in  Cincinnati  at  a 
very  early  day,  probably  in  1800,  perhaps  earlier.  He 
was  nearly  thirty  years  in  active  mercantile  business, 
having  during  the  whole  time  the  highest  reputation  for 
integrity  and  capacity.  He  was  engaged  in  the  Miami 
Bank,  the  sugar  refinery,  and  many  other  early  enter- 
prises. He  was  one  of  the  original  proprietors  of 
Toledo ;  and  built  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  the  fine 
house  on  Pike  street,  now  occupied  by  Nicholas  Long- 


134:  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

worth,  Esq.  Like  Judge  Burnet,  Dr.  Drake,  and  other 
early  founders  of  the  city,  he  gave  his  dwelling  and 
surrounding  property  in  payment  of  his  bank  debt.  He 
had  the  perfect  confidence  of  all  who  knew  him,  and  was 
one  of  the  most  useful  and  honorable  of  the  early  pioneers. 

The  "  horse-ferry  boat,"  of  which  Dr.  Drake  speaks, 
was  a  great  improvement  on  the  previous  modes  of 
crossing  the  river;  but  how  contemptible  it  seems,  in 
comparison  with  the  seven  large  steamboats  which  now 
cross,  at  four  different  points!  These  improvements, 
however,  were  real  and  substantial.  The  steamboat  and 
the  iron  foundry  mark  a  great  era  in  the  commercial 
progress  of  Cincinnati. 

About  this  time  an  equal  progress  was  made  in  lite- 
rary and  scientific  institutions,  and  in  that  Dr.  Drake 
had  a  much  larger  share — indeed,  of  them  he  was  the 
chief  founder.  Of  their  beginnings  he  spoke  thus,  in 
June,  1818 :  "  There  are,  at  this  very  moment,  arrange- 
ments making  in  Cincinnati  that  will  render  its  institu- 
tions, at  no  distant  period,  as  superior  to  those  of  any 
other  town  in  the  West,  as  its  population  and  trade  are 
pre-eminent.  During  the  last  week,  $29,000  were  sub- 
scribed, by  seven  gentlemen,*  as  a  permanent  fund  for 
the  Lancaster  Seminary.  This  fund  will,  I  have  no 
doubt,  be  augmented  to  $40,000  or  $50,000,  and  we 
may  soon  expect  to  see  this  institution  elevated  into  a 
respectable  college.  Within  the  same  week  a  site  for  a 
poor-house  has  been  purchased,  in  a  suitable  situation, 
and  the  establishment  has  been  planned  in  a  manner 
that  will  make  it  a  hospital,  the  only  desideratum  to  the 


*  Of  these  were  General  William  Lytle,  (one  of  the  pioneers,) 
Oliver  M.  Spencer,  and  John  H.  Piatt. 


PUBLIC   ENTERPRISE.  135 

formation  of  a  medical  college  in  this  p.ace.  While 
these  important  arrangements  were  making,  a  public 
meeting  was  held,  on  the  subject  of  a  museum.  A 
society  has  been  formed,  and  I  confidently  expect  to  see 
from  $5,000  to  $6,000  contributed  to  that  object  next 
week.  I  have  drawn  up  the  constitution  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  make  the  institution  a  complete  school  for 
natural  history,  and  hope  to  see  concentrated,  in  this 
place,  the  choicest  natural  and  artificial  curiosities  in 
the  Western  country." 

All  these  institutions  were,  in  fact,  founded  by  his 
own  active  and  untiring  energy.  He  saw  the  need  of 
them,  and  he  urged  on  the  public  spirit  to  their  accom- 
plishment, while  the  liberal-minded  friends  he  had 
raised  up  around  him  contributed  largely  of  their  means 
to  these  objects.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Library  Society,  and  now  formed  the  germs  of  the 
college,  the  hospital,  the  medical  school,  and  the  mu- 
seum, all  of  which  subsequently  rose  to  importance.  In 
what  manner  he  brought  them  to  completion  I  shall 
have  occasion  to  relate.  In  the  meanwhile  he  was 
equally  active  in  matters  relating  to  his  individual 
interest.  His  commercial  business  was  yet  alive,  and 
continually  increasing.  The  firm  of  Isaac  Drake  &  Co. 
formed  a  connection  with  Major  Arthur  Henrie,  and 
established  a  branch  store  at  Miamitown,  from  which 
they  expected  large  profits.  His  brother  Benjamin  was 
the  active  member  of  the  mercantile  firm,  and  continued 
to  superintend  its  affairs.  He,  himself,  not  only  had  a 
large  practice,  but  already  commenced  plans  by  which 
he  expected  to  make  Cincinnati  the  site  of  a  larger 
medical  school  than  could  be  established  at  Lexington. 
Besides  the  measures  described  above,  he  commenced  a 


LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

course  of  botanical  lectures,  to  which  he  had  forty-four 
subscribers.  Nor  was  this  all.  In  conjunction  with  Dr. 
Coleraan  Rogers,  who  had  been  his  partner  in  practice 
while  he  was  at  Lexington,  and  Dr.  Black,  the  Princi- 
pal of  the  Lancaster  Seminary,  he  commenced  medical 
lectures  to  a  small  class,  which  in  the  beginning  num- 
bered twelve.  These  energetic  measures  excited  a 
strong  sensation  at  Lexington,  among  his  former  col- 
leagues; and,  to  prevent  the  establishment  of  a  rival 
school  in  Cincinnati,  Dr.  Drake  was  offered  the  first 
professorship  in  Transylvania,  if  he  would  remove  to 
Lexington  permanently.  This  he  declined;  for  he 
already  clearly  saw  the  future  magnitude  and  prosperity 
of  Cincinnati,  and  was  unwilling  to  remove  from  a 
rising  town  to  one  upon  which  the  shadows  were  already 
falling. 

At  this  time,  for  the  better  health  of  his  family,  he 
removed  to  "  Mount  Poverty,"  as  he  not  inaptly  styled 
his  cottage,  on  the  hill-side.  This  was  a  log-cabin, 
sixteen  feet  square,  lined  with  pine  boards,  and  winged 
with  a  kitchen  and  bedroom,  all  one  story  high,  and 
covered  with  plank.  This  cottage  was  placed  on  the 
slope  of  the  hill,  on  the  north  side  of  the  city,  between 
what  is  now  Sycamore  and  Broadway  continued.  The 
hill  was  then  covered  with  woods,  and  separated  from 
the  town  by  near  a  mile  of  open  space.  They  who 
now  see  it  surmounted  with  houses,  while  streets  and 
avenues  stretch  for  miles  beyond,  will  hear  with  astonish- 
ment that  this  site  should  have  been  deemed  a  country 
residence,  free  from  noise  and  smoke.  But  so  it  was ; 
and  there,  in  the  summer  of  1818,  Dr.  Drake  took  his 
family  for  repose  and  retirement.  The  actual  site  of  the 
cabin  was  on  the  top  of  the  ridge.  It  was  enveloped 


VARIOUS   EMPLOYMENTS.  137 

by  green  trees  and  rank  weeds,  and  although  only  fifteen 
minutes  ride  from  his  office  in  town,  could  not,  for  the 
exuberant  foliage,  be  seen  from  any  point  in  the  plain 
below. 

The  residence  at  this  spot  was  no  impediment  to  his 
business.  On  the  contrary,  the  better  health  of  his 
family,  and  early  rising,  enabled  him  to  devote  his  time 
with  renewed  assiduity  to  his  multifarious  employments. 
Among  these  was  that  of  finishing  his  new  house,  at 
the  corner  of  Third  and  Ludlow  streets,  which,  although 
begun  long  before,  was  not  yet  completed.  Thus,  in  the 
summer  of  1818,  at  thirty-three  years  of  age  only,  we 
find  him,  in  the  midst  of  professional  business,  a  part- 
ner in  two  mercantile  establishments,  a  founder  of  lite- 
rary institutions,  already  projecting  the  germs  of  the 
museum,  the  hospital,  and  the  medical  college,  and,  as 
if  this  was  not  enough,  building  a  house,  and  lecturing 
on  botany!  In  the  month  of  October,  he  descended 
from  Mount  Poverty,  leaving,  as  he  said,  the  residence, 
but  still  followed  by  the  influence  of  that  barren  god- 
dess. He  now  issued  no  less  than  five  pamphlets  from 
the  press,  one  of  which  was  his  introductory  to  the  lec- 
tures on  botany ;  one  a  programme  for  the  museum  so- 
ciety, and  the  others  were  controversial — a  part  of  a  pro- 
longed controversy,  which  originated  in  the  establishment 
and  contemplation  of  rival  schools  of  medicine.  As  I 
shall  give  no  account  of  these  controversies,  which,  being 
personal,  local,  and  ephemeral,  have  long  since  lost  their 
interest ;  I  will  substitute  Dr.  Drake's  theory  of  the  cause 
arid  frequency  of  those  difficulties  which  agitate  the 
medical  profession.  He  said  it  was  the  only  profession 
which  had  no  ultimate  tribunal  for  the  settlement  of  con- 
troversies. Clergymen,  in  all  denominations,  had  some 
12 


138  LIFE   OF   DK.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

ecclesiastical  tribunal;  lawyers  had  the  courts;  mer- 
chants had  their  chambers  of  commerce;  mechanics 
had  their  professional  societies;  but  doctors  had  no 
ultimate  tribunal — neither  courts,  nor  assemblies,  nor 
boards  of  ultimate  authority.  The  consequence  is,  that 
they  continually  appeal,  in  their  difficulties,  to  the 
public,  and  this  involves  at  once  personalities,' recrimi- 
nations, charges,  and  misrepresentations,  each  of  which 
stands  on  no  other  authority  than  that  of  the  parties 
themselves,  and  each  of  which  is  believed  or  disbelieved 
by  different  portions  of  the  community.  The  result  is, 
that  medical  quarrels  are  numerous,  and  occasion  no 
small  acerbity  and  ill-will  in  society. 

This  theory  of  medical  controversy  is  no  doubt  cor- 
rect for  the  most  part ;  but  as  the  profession  rises  in 
moral  and  intellectual  dignity;  as  medical  societies, 
guided  by  the  best  minds,  are  formed  in  various  parts  of 
the  country ;  and,  as  science  on  all  sides  rises  in  the 
estimation  of  the  community,  and  with  it  elevates  the 
entire  civilization  —  we  may  hope,  not  without  reason, 
that  medical  controversy  will  cease,  at  least  in  its  rude 
forms,  and  give  place  to  the  kind  and  courteous  manners 
which  should  distinguish  a  great  and  noble  profession. 
During  the  several  years  which  followed  the  commence- 
ment of  this  medical  controversy,  Dr.  Drake  was  fre- 
quently charged  with  being  ambitious  and  quarrelsome. 
The  charge  of  ambition, — 

"  The  glorious  fault  of  angels,  and  of  men," 

may  be  admitted,  and  will  only  redound  to  his  credit. 
Ambition  is  a  crime  only  when  its  object  is  criminal. 
Any  man  may  be  charged  with  ambition  who  devises 
plans,  or  institutions,  or  labors,  which  are  beneficial  to 
his  country,  his  family,  or  mankind ;  but  who  has  ever 


MR.   ETHAN  STONE.  139 

supposed  such  plans  of  usefulness  and  beneficence  to  be 
crimes  against  society  ?  Who  has  not  considered  such 
men  as  the  benefactors  of  their  race  ?  Such  were  the 
schemes,  as  they  were  sometimes  called,  of  Dr.  Drake; 
and  if  he  sought  to  identify  his  own  name  and  interests 
\Cilh  the  success  of  these  plans  for  the  public  benefit,  had 
he  not  a  fair  right  ?  So  much  of  selfishness  must  be 
allowed  to  the  most  benevolent  and  public-spirited  of 
men,  unless  we  would  take  from  character  all  its  indi- 
viduality, and  from  the  human  mind  its  most  efficient 
stimulus. 

The  charge  of  "  quarrelsome,"  was  not  true  in  any 
sense.  No  difficulty  arose  involving  him  which  he  did 
not  wish  settled  peacefully  and  quickly.  His  mind  was 
scientific,  not  controversial,  arid  all  his  interests  required 
that  he  should  be  on  good  terms  with  as  many  people  as 
possible.  His  plans  were  for  the  public  benefit,  to  be 
carried  out  by  public  means.  It  required  that  he  should 
make  friends  and  disarm  opposition  ;  and  this  he  did  so 
successfully  that  no  man  had,  in  the  time  in  which  it  was 
exerted,  more  influence  with  the  people,  the  Legisla- 
ture, the  medical  profession  at  large,  and  the  circle  of  his 
private  friends.  The  latter  embraced  most  of  the 
worthy  and  intelligent  citizens,  especially  of  the  pioneer 
race.  They  knew  him  best,  and  valued  him  most. 
Some  of  these  1  have  already  mentioned,  and  others  will 
come  within  the  scope  of  this  memoir.  Among  them  was 
one  who,  with  his  excellent  wife,  were  among  his  earliest 
and  latest  patients — who  at  this  time  gave  him  aid  in  busi- 
ness, and  at  all  times  was  his  ardent  friend.  He  has  been 
now  some  years  dead,  and  deserves  mention  and  memory 
for  his  public  services.  This  was  ETHAN  STONE,  a  native 
of  New  Hampshire,  but  for  near  fifty  years  a  citizen  of 


140  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DKAKE. 

Cincinnati.  Mr.  Stone  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  but 
ceased  the  active  practice  of  the  law  thirty  years  before 
his  death.  He  was  a  man  of  high  intelligence,  of 
sound  judgment,  and  of  signal  integrity ;  a  man  who 
chose  to  do  right  rather  than  to  seek  popularity  by 
courting  the  multitude  ;  a  man  of  worth,  a  good  citizen, 
and  an  invaluable  friend.  Mr.  Stone  was  an  early 
and  great  admirer  of  John  Mansfield,  of  whom  I 
have  spoken,  and  he,  Dr.  Drake,  and  other  young  men, 
were  in  the  circle  of  visitors  at  his  hospitable  house. 
Mr.  Stone  and  Dr.  Drake  sympathized  together  in  the 
loss  of  their  common  friend,  and  the  harmony  of  their 
sympathies  and  interests  was  never  interrupted. 

Mr.  Stone  was  in  some  things  a  remarkable  man.  He 
was  equally  firm,  upright,  and  philosophical.  One  inci- 
dent deserves  mention  for  the  business  moral  it  conveys. 
He  had  made  a  contract  with  the  Commissioners  of 
Hamilton  county  to  build  a  bridge  over  Mill  Creek. 
The  contract  required  that  the  bridge  should  stand  a 
certain  length  of  time  before  the  Commissioners  would 
receive  it,  in  order  to  test  its  strength.  Mr.  Stone  built 
the  bridge  at  great  cost,  and  the  time  was  near  when  it 
was  to  be  delivered.  But  a  most  extraordinary  flood 
occurred  in  the  Ohio  waters.  Mill  Creek  rose  with  great 
suddenness  to  an  unusual  height.  The  bridge  was 
entirely  carried  away.  Mr.  Stone  lost  nearly  .all  his 
property.  The  next  day  he  wrote  to  his  brother  in  New 
Hampshire,  "Last  night  the  wind  and  flood  carried 
away  all  my  fortune.  To-day  Ethan  must  go  to  work 
again  !  "  An  energy — a  spirit  like  this,  with  an  equal 
integrity  possessed  by  men  of  business,  would  disarm 
adversity  of  its  power,  and  take  from  misfortune  its 
gloomy  frown. 


DEATH    OF   ME.    ETHAN   STONE. 

Mr.  Stone  did  go  to  work  again,  and  retrieved  his  for- 
tune so  that  he  died  a  wealthy  man.  It  took  twenty 
years  —  many  of  which  he  passed  in  comparative 
obscurity  at  his  cottage  in  the  country  —  to  re-establish 
himself,  so  that  he  could  return  with  pleasure  to  his 
former  habits  and  associations.  The  intermediate  time 
had  caused  a  great  change  in  the  fortunes  of  the  city. 
Long  after  the  time  of  which  I  speak,  he  repurchased  a 
small  part  of  his  old  homestead  in  the  town,  for  a  price  at 
least  five  fold  that  for  which  he  had  parted  with  it  in  pay- 
ment of  debt ;  and  now  it  is  worth  three  times  as  much  as 
even  that.  He  had  built  for  the  time,  an  elegant  mansion 
at  the  corner  of  Fourth  and  Vine  streets,  then  a  retired  situ- 
tion.  He  returned  to  it  while  it  was  yet  only  a  site  for 
residences  ;  and  now  it  is  no  longer  a  place  for  dwellings. 
It  is  the  center  of  business  activity.  Stores,  custom 
houses,  markets,  and  all  the  noise,  and  whirl,  and  throng 
of  a  commercial  metropolis  are  around  it,  pouring  along 
in  a  ceaseless  current. 

Mr.  Stone  closed  his  honorable  life  in  peace ;  and  the 
strong  and  simple,  firm  and  plain  granite  rock  placed 
upon  his  grave,  is  no  inapt  representation  of  his 
character. 

At  the  period  at  which  I  now  write,  we  see  Dr.  Drake 
most  earnestly  and  actively  employed  in  rearing,  sustain- 
ing, and  enlarging  the  literary  and  scientific  institutions 
of  Cincinnati..  He  had  relinquished  all  idea  of  renew- 
ing his  connection  with  Transylvania  University  at  Lex- 
ington, and  bent  his  mind  on  establishing  in  Cincinnati  a 
medical  school,  surrounded  by  such  attributes  and  social 
helps,  as  would  make  it  superior  to  anything  in  the  West, 
and  Cincinnati  the  center  of  science  and  literature.  The 
idea  was  a  good  one,  the  plan  patriotic  and  benevolent ; 


14:2  LIFE   OF  DK.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

and  he  succeeded  chiefly  by  his  own  individual  energy,  in 
carrying  it  into  practical  execution.     The  failures  were 
such  only  as  arose  from  the  imperfections  of  human  agen- 
cies, and  the  hostility  excited  by  jealous  rivals.     So  far  as 
depended  on  him,  more  than  all  he  intended  was  done. 
In  1818,  as  we  have  seen,  he  devised  the  plan  of  the  col- 
lege, the  medical  school  and  hospital.     But  to  create  these 
needed  charters  from  the  Legislature ;  and  in  the  winter 
of  1818-19  he  proceeded  personally  to  procure  them. 
He  visited  Columbus,  and  laid  his  views  before  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Legislature.     They  were  adopted  at  once,  and 
charters  were   granted   for  Cincinnati    College,  (to    be 
formed  out  of  the  Lancaster  Seminary ; )  for  the  Medical 
College,  and  the  Commercial  College,  to  be  connected 
with  the  Medical  School,  but  managed  by  the  Township 
Trustees  of  Cincinnati.     Nor  was  he  satisfied  with  char- 
ters only.     He  procured,  in  the  original  acts  of  incorpo- 
ration, an  endowment  sufficient  to  put  them  in  opera- 
tion.    The  Commercial  Hospital  was  endowed  with 
one-fourth  the  auction  duties  of  Cincinnati,  which  in 
time  came  to  be  a  large  amount.     By  contract  with  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  it  also  became  the  Marine 
Hospital  of  the  United  States,  for  the  reception  of  sick 
seamen,  who  paid  for  their  support.     In  this  way  the 
hospital  was  well  supported,  and  has  since  grown  up 
into  great  importance.     The  professors  of  the  Medical 
College  were  ex  officio  its  physicians,  so  that  full  oppor- 
tunity was   afforded   the  students    to   witness   clinical 
practice,  and  obtain  subjects  for  dissection. 

Returning  to  Cincinnati  in  the  spring  of  1819,  Dr. 
Drake  found  all  the  elements  of  scientific  and  social  in- 
stitutions, necessary  to  the  success  of  his  plans,  for  the 
promotion  of  4he  public  prosperity,  and  his  own  reputa- 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  PUBLIC  INSTITUTIONS.  143 

tion.  The  public  mind  was  willing  and  liberal.  The 
Legislature  had  granted  charters.  Endowments,  far 
greater  in  proportion  to  the  age  of  the  country  than 
New  England  could  boast,  had  been  already  secured.* 
There  wanted  but  one  thing,  and  danger  from  that 
quarter  he  had  not  apprehended.  He  only  wanted  men 
who  had  the  spirit  and  the  capacity  to  co-operate  with 
himself  in  schemes  of  public  enterprise.  He  never  anti- 
cipated the  difficulties  which  human  infirmities  present 
to  human  improvement.  He  had  learned  much  of  the 
finer  sensibilities  and  emotions  of  our  nature ;  but  had 
yet  to  handle  the  untempered  mortar  of  its  depravity. 
Some  one  has  given  to  the  world  the  much  quoted 
maxim,  "  principles — not  men  ;  "  but  a  much  wiser  head 
amended  it  by  saying,  "  principles  and  men."  All  of 
human  enterprise  must  be  carried  on  by  human  hearts 
and  hands,  and  when  these  fail — all  fails.  When  the 
right  skill  or  motive  is  wanting  in  the  agents  employed, 
it  is  in  vain  that  we  have  planned  wisely,  or  intended 
nobly.  The  good  which  is  intended,  and  which  has  be- 
come actually  possible,  is  rejected  like  the  grace  of  God, 
for  no  reason  that  we  know  of,  except  that  it  is  a  good 
freely  offered  to  those  who  either  do  not  comprehend,  or 
are  unwilling  to  receive  it.  It  is  so  with  the  best  plans 
for  the  public  improvement.  Enterprises  which  are  to 
increase  the  knowledge  of  science,  refine  the  taste,  and 
soften  the  grossness  of  manners,  are  precisely  those 
which  are  perverted  or  rejected  by  human  selfishness. 

Dr.  Drake's  plans  for  the  advancement  of  society  by 
these  institutions  did  not  fail;    but  they  involved  this 

*  Yale  College  commenced  with  an  endowment  of  a  few  books,  by 
a  dozen  poor  clergymen.     See  Stiles'  History. 


14:4:  LIFE   OF  DR.    DANIEL   DKAKE. 

portion  of  his  life  in  more  of  disappointment,  of  contro- 
versy, and  of  care  and  pain,  than  he  experienced  at  any 
other  time.  His  boat,  though  launched  at  first  on 
obscure  and  uncertain  seas,  had  held  its  course  bravely 
over  the  waves.  Prosperous  gales  had  filled  its  sails. 
The  billows  had  risen  against  it  only  to  be  surmounted, 
and  the  open  sea  and  distant  haven  lay  brightly  in  his 
sight.  In  fine,  with  original  strength  of  character,  with 
noble  aspirations,  and  upright  purposes,  he  had  come 
naturally  into  association  with  the  best  portion  of  so- 
ciety, had  imbibed  a  patriotic  spirit,  and  cherished  a 
generous  ambition.  He  had  arrived  at  thirty-five  years 
of  age,  and  had  accomplished  labors,  and  obtained  a 
success  which,  in  that  time,  is  rare  for  any  professional 
man  in  civil  life.  He  was  now,  not  indeed  to  be  turned 
back  in  his  career,  but  to  experience  reverses  and  disap- 
pointments which  he  had  not  thought  possible. 

Here  it  is  proper  to  notice  those  qualities  and  habits 
of  mind  by  which  he  obtained  success.  Success  is  not, 
what  the  world  thinks  it,  a  test  of  merit;  but  it  is  a  test 
of  certain  attributes  of  character  by  which  it  is  made 
possible. 

The  active  qualities  of  mind  in  Dr.  Drake,  previous 
to  this  period,  were  a  taste  for  nature,  which  conse- 
quently made  his  observation  keen  and  accurate,  great 
intellectual  energy,  untiring  application  to  the  objects  of 
his  pursuit,  quick  sensibilities,  which  made  him  enter 
heartily  into  sympathy  with  his  friends,  and  an  elevated 
ambition.  His  original  taste  for  nature,  and  his  quick- 
ness of  perception  and  sensibility,  united  to  constitute 
wrhat  the  world  calls  genius,  which  is  at  last  but  a 
term  invented  to  express  an  original  strength  of  mind, 
directed  by  a  peculiar  sensibility  to  certain  objects. 


DIFFICULTIES   OF  -DR.    DRAKE.  145 

Among  these  attributes,  however  real  may  have  been 
his  genius,  or  acute  his  perceptions,  the  most  available 
were  his  energy  and  industry,  and  in  these  he  was 
scarcely  equaled.  He  was  neither  to  be  exhausted,  nor 
turned  aside.  With  these  qualities,  he  possessed  a 
genial  and  kindly  spirit,  which  entered  warmly,  and 
cheerfully  into  the  affairs  of  society,  friends,  and  family. 

Such  ^as  Dr.  Drake  at  thirty-five,  when  the  fires  of 
ambition  had  excited  his  energies — when  he  had  become 
one  of  the  most  prominent  citizens,  and  acquired  a  wide 
and  brilliant  reputation.  The  multifarious  employments 
into  which  he  had  so  zealously  entered  had,  however, 
already  begun  to  task  his  powers,  and  teach  him  the 
wearisome  exactions  of  professional  and  public  life.  In 
one  of  his  letters,  dated  October,  1819,  he  says:  "I 
have  more  than  once  told  you  how  I  regretted  that  my 
engagements  and  pursuits  have  multiplied  so  much  as 
to  materially  interfere  with  my  social  relations,  and  fear- 
fully to  abridge  the  hours  which  ought  to  be  spent  in 
devotion  before  the  shrine  of  friendship.  When  I  shall 
extricate  myself  from  these  enemies  of  social  enjoyment, 
I  cannot  predict.  The  ties  which  bind  me  to  the  world 
at  large  seem  every  day  to  increase  in  strength  and 
numbers.  The  crowd  of  mankind  with  whom  I  have 
some  direct  or  indirect  concern,  thickens  around  me,  and 
I  see  but  little  prospect  of  more  leisure,  nor  any  of 
retirement  and  seclusion." 

Such  was  his  own  sense  of  the  burdens  which  his 
public  spirit,  as  well  as  his  professional  life,  had  im- 
posed. For  the  next  twenty  years  that  burden  was  not 
diminished,  but  rather  increased,  by  the  additional 
weight  of  disappointments  which  he  had  not  foreseen, 
and  adversities  which  he  could  not  prevent. 

13 


14:6  LIFE   OF   DK.  DANIEL   DKAKE. 

One  of  the  earliest  of  these  was  the  difficulty  and 
delay  in  organizing  the  medical  college.  Two  or  three 
leading  medical  men,  either  because  they  desired  the 
control  of  the  new  institution,  or  were  jealous  of  him, 
interfered  in  such  a  way  as  to  occasion  an  active  and 
bitter  controversy.  His  rivals  had  so  successfully  in- 
trigued as  to  prevent  the  organization  in  the  winter  of 
1819-20.  The  medical  college  was  so  dear  to  his  heart, 
that  this  in  itself  was  a  severe  disappointment,  and  he 
writes  then:  "You  will  see,  by  the  newspapers,  that  the 
medical  college  will  not  be  organized  this  winter.  This 
to  me  is  a  sore  disappointment,  and  no  slight  mortifica- 
tion. The  publication  alluded  to  will  give  but  an  inade- 
quate idea  of  the  intrigues  of  Dr.  B ,  and  of  the 

conduct  which  led  to  our  failure.  I  do  not,  however, 
despair,  for  the  object  is  one  so  dear  to  me  that  I  shall 
relinquish  it  with  the  greatest  reluctance,  and  not  till  it 
becomes,  in  my  own  estimation,  absolutely  hopeless, 
which  God  forbid  that  it  ever  should."  In  his  mind,  it 
never  became  hopeless,  and  the  last  official  act  of  his 
life  was  to  accept,  for  the  fourth  or  fifth  time,  a  chair  in 
the  Medical  College  of  Ohio. 

The  intrigues  of  Dr.  B ,  mentioned  above,  to 

control  the  new  college  in  its  commencement,  and  those 
of  Dr.  Coleman  Eogers,  about  the  same  time,  were  the 
germs  of  all  the  personal  controversies  in  which  Dr. 
Drake  was  ever  engaged.  They  all  turned  on  one  fact — 
the  efforts  of  others  to  get  possession  arid  control  of  an 
institution  which  he  had  founded  and  labored  for,  and 
which  lie  naturally  thought  he  had  a  right  to  influence. 
It  was  his  own  offspring,  and  he  contended  for  it  as  the 
parent  does  for  the  child. 

Ill  consequence  of  the  difficulties  and  controversies 


MEDICAL  COLLEGE   OF   OHIO.  147 

•which  thus  arose  out  of  a  defective  charter  and  personal 
intrigues,  the  Medical  College  of  Ohio  was  not  organ- 
ized, as  it  ought  to  have  been,  in  time  for  a  session 
during  the  winter  of  1819-20.  ,  But  in  January,  1820, 
it  was  organized,  and  a  circular  issued  to  the  public. 
This  circular  announced  that  the  "Medical  College  of 
Ohio  is  at  length  organized,  and  that  full  courses  of 
lectures  on  the  various  branches  of  the  profession  will 
be  delivered  in  the  ensuing  winter  (that  of  1820-21). 
The  assignment  of  the  different  departments  for  the 
first  session  will  be  as  follows,  viz: 

THE  INSTITUTES  AND  PRACTICE  OF  MEDICINE,^ 

including  Obstetrics  and  the  Diseases  of>  DANIEL  DRAKE,  M.  D. 

Women  and  Children. 

ANATOMY  AND  SURGERY, JESSE  SMITH,  M.  D. 

MATERIA  MEDICA  and  PHARMACY, BENJAMIN  S.  BOHRER,  M.  D. 

CHEMISTRY, ELIJAH  SLACK,  A.  M., 

President  of  Cincinnati  College. 

ASSISTANT  IN  CHEMISTRY, ROBERT  BEST, 

Curator  of  the  Western  Museum. 

"Medical  Jurisprudence  will  be  divided  among  the 
professors,  according  to  its  relations  with  the  different 
branches  which  they  teach. 

"After  the  termination  of  the  session,  should  a  suffi- 
cient class  be  constituted,  a  course  of  BOTANICAL  LEC- 
TURES will  be  delivered,  in  which  the  leading  object 
will  be  to  illustrate  the  MEDICAL  BOTANY  of  the  United 
States."* 

Having  thus  announced  the  first  session  of  the  Medi- 
cal College  of  Ohio,  which  was  in  every  sense  his  own 
offspring,  the  doctor,  (for  the  circular  was  his,)  proceeded 
to  give  some  of  the  reasons  why  it  was  needed,  and 
should  be  successful,  at  Cincinnati. 

*  This  quotation  is  made  from  the  original  manuscript. 


148  LIFE   OF  DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

"The  considerations,"  he  said,  "which  originally  sug- 
gested the  establishment  of  a  medical  college,  and  which 
doubtless  induced  the  General  Assembly  to  give  its 
sanction,  were — first,  the  obvious  and  increasing  neces- 
sity for  such  an  institution  in  the  "Western  country ;  and 
secondly,  the  peculiar  fitness  and  advantages  of  this  city 
for  the  successful  execution  of  the  project.  These  are, 
its  central  situation,  its  northern  latitude,  its  easy  water 
communications  W7ith  most  parts  of  the  Western  country, 
and,  above  all,  the  comparatively  numerous  population. 
This  already  exceeds  ten  thousand--more  than  double 
the  number  of  any  other  inland  town  in  the  new  States ; 
and,  from  the  facility  of  emigrating  to  it  by  water,  the 
proportion  of  indigent  immigrants  is  unusually  great.* 
The  professors  placed  on  this  ample  theater  will,  there- 
fore, have  numerous  opportunities  of  treating  a  great 
variety  of  diseases,  and  thus  be  able  to  impart  those 
principles  and  rules  of  practice  which  are  framed  from 
daily  observations  on  the  peculiar  maladies  which  the 
student,  after  the  termination  of  his  collegiate  course, 
will  have  to  encounter. 

"The same  state  of  things  has  compelled  the  guardians 
of  the  poor  to  assemble  their  sick  into  one  edifice,  and 
thus  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  permanent  hospital,  the 
care  of  which  is  confined  to  one  of  the  professors.  In 
this  hospital,  which  is  at  no  time  without  patients,  the 
students  wrill  have  many  opportunities  of  hearing  clinical 

*  This  was  a  most  prophetic  remark.  Foreign  paupers  have 
poured  in  upon  us  by  thousands,  and  the  annual  reports  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati Infirmary  show  that  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  multi- 
tude who  are  provided  for  there  are  foreigners,  mostly  recent  comers. 
It  is  a  benefit  to  hospital  practice,  but  a  burden  and  expense  on  the 
eity. 


MEDICAL   COLLEGE   OF   OHIO.  14:9 

lectures,  and  of  witnessing  illustrations  of  the  various 
doctrines  which  are  taught  in  this  college. 

"  Finally,  every  medical  man  will  perceive  that,  amidst 
so  mixed  and  multiplied  a  population,  the  opportunities 
presented  to  the  Western  student  for  the  study  of  prac- 
tical anatomy,  will  altogether  transcend  any  which  he 
can  enjoy,  without  visiting  and  paying  tribute  to  the 
schools  of  the  Atlantic  States." 

Such  were  the  arguments,  and  they  must  be  admitted 
to  be  valid  and  strong,  which  Dr.  Drake  adduced  to 
prove  Cincinnati  a  highly  favorable  position  for  a  suc- 
cessful medical  school.  That  the  Ohio  Medical  College 
has  not  since  equaled  the  expectations  of  its  founders, 
must  be  attributed  to  other  causes  than  any  want  of  ad- 
vantages in  the  place,  society,  or  laws.  The  real  causes 
were  the  dissensions  of  the  medical  profession,  and  the 
consequent  opposition  of  a  large  party,  both  in  the  pro- 
fession and  society,  to  the  plans  and  success  of  the  actual 
founder  and  most  eminent  teacher  of  the  medical  college. 
This  opposition  for  a  long  time  disheartened  him,  and 
defeated  his  purposes,  and,  in  its  effects,  reacted  upon 
the  institution  most  signally  and  forcibly. 

In  the  meanwhile,  however,  the  new  medical  school 
went  into  operation,  and  the  doctor  began  to  brighten  at 
its  prospects,  and  to  be  hopeful  of  his  own  extended 
reputation  and  usefulness.  There  was,  however,  in  this 
fair  fabric,  a  germ  of  mischief  and  decay.  The  intrigues 

of  Dr.  B- had  not  merely  delayed  the  organization 

of  the  school  for  a  year,  but  it  had  separated  Dr.  Drake 
from  his  former  partner,  Dr.  Rogers,  and  caused  him 
and  several  other  physicians  to  form  a  cabal,  whose 
object  was  the  overthrow  of  Dr.  Drake  and  his  plans, 
or,  in  equal  consistency  with  the  selfishness  of  human 


150  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

nature,  to  displace  him  from  his  office  and  share  his 
practice.  This  cabal  did  not  immediately  succeed,  nor 
its  originators  ever;  but  it  laid  the  foundation  for  the 
successive  revolutions  and  overthrows  in  the  medical 
college,  and  for  most  of  the  controversies,  disappoint- 
ments, and  vexations  to  which  Dr.  Drake  was  subse- 
quently subjected.  Amidst  these  slumbering  elements 
of  discontent  and  opposition,  the  college  commenced  its 
operations.  Two  of  its  professors,  Drs.  Bohrer  and 
Smith,  had  been  imported  from  the  Atlantic  States — a 
process  which,  though  sometimes  successful,  is  oftener 
attended  with  disappointment.  This  was  one  cause  of 
difficulty. 

There  was  another  inherent  in  the  organization  of  the 
institution,  and  which  would  probably  have  been  fatal  to 
any  similar  enterprise.  This  was  that,  by  the  original 
law  or  charter,  the  professors  were  both  professors  and 
trustees — the  appointing  power,  and  the  judges  of  their 
own  conduct.  This  gave  unlimited  opportunity  and 
power  for  any  two  of  the  professors  to  intrigue  against 
the  others,  and  to  execute  their  own  will.  They  must 
have  been  the  most  amiable  and  disinterested  of  men,  if, 
under  the  temptation  of  a  higher  post  or  greater  gain, 
this  did  not  take  place.  In  fact,  it  did  occur  immedi- 
ately, and  two  of  the  professors  named  in  the  original 
charter,  Drs.  Rogers  and  Brown,  had  to  be  removed 
before  the  faculty  could  be  even  organized.  At  length, 
having  lost  a  year,  it  was  organized,  in  the  manner  I 
have  related.  By  law,  Dr.  Drake  was  the  President  of 
the  Faculty,  and  Professor  of  Theory  and  Practice.  He 
issued  an  elaborate  circular,  from  which  I  have  quoted, 
and  in  the  winter  of  1821-22,  the  Medical  College  of 
Ohio  held  its  first  session.  . 


HIS    EXPULSION   FROM   COLLEGE.  151 

After  one  session  the  same  intrinsic  defect  of  organi- 
zation occasioned  another  rupture.  Occupying,  by  law 
and  b}r  talent,  the  first  place  in  the  institution,  it  was  less 
singular  that  he  should  have  been  an  object  of  jealousy 
to  his  colleagues,  than  that  they  should  have  been  willing 
to  exhibit  that  jealousy  in  public  acts  of  ingratitude,  if 
not  indecency  towards  the  founder  of  the  college. 
Human  nature  is,  however,  seldom  restrained  in  the  pur- 
suit of  its  interests  by  considerations  of  propriety.  The 
colleagues  of  Dr.  Drake  were  resolved  to  get  him  out  of 
the  way ;  and  they  effected  their  purpose  by  the  power 
of  appointment  given  in  the  charter  to  the  professors. 
He  was  regularly  expelled  from  the  institution  he  had 
really  created.  Such  an  act  shocked  the  public  mind,  and 
is  an  illustration  of  the  loose  morals,  as  well  as  bitter 
controversy,  not  uncommon  in  the  medical  profession. 

The  expulsion  of  Dr.  Drake  may  be  said  to  have  ter- 
minated the  first  period  in  the  history  of  the  Medical 
College.  In  its  original  form  and  organization  it  was 
now  destroyed.*  From  the  first  to  the  last  hour  of  its  ex- 
istence in  that  shape,  the  self-appointing  and  expelling 
power  vested  in  the  faculty,  was  a  continual  source  of 
difficulty  and  disaster,  finally  terminating  in  an  utter 
disruption.  Dr.  Jesse  Smith  attempted  to  carry  on  a 
course  of  lectures  in  the  following  winter,  but  with  only 
one  colleague,  a  handful  of  pupils,  and  no  reputation. 
In  fact,  the  college  was  exploded.  Irritated  by  what  he 
thought  undeserved,  hostility,  and  disappointed  in  his 
hopes  of  a  great  medical  school  in  Cincinnati,  Dr.  Drake 
wrote  his  "  Narrative  of  the  Eise  and  Fall "  of  the  Medi- 
cal College  of  Ohio.  It  was  written  with  force  and 
point ;  but  being  wholly  controversial,  I  leave  it  to  that 
oblivion  which  he  himself  desired  for  all  that  was  said 


152  LIFE    OF   DR.    DANIEL   D"BAKE. 

or  done,  tending  to  estrange  him  from  his  fellow  men. 
He  lived  to  be  at  peace  with  those  who  survived  those 
scenes,  and  time  has  healed  dissensions  which  then,  and 
long  after,  seriously  affected  the  society  of  Cincinnati. 
The  time  had  now  come  when,  for  once  only  in  his  long 
citizenship,  he  hesitated  about  remaining  here.  He 
had  given  the  energies  of  twenty  years  quite  as  much  to 
the  public  as  himself.  The  growth  of  the  town  was  in 
no  small  degree  due  to  the  "Picture  of  Cincinnati," 
whic^  spread  abroad  the  knowledge  of  its  superior  ad- 
vantages. The  taste  for  literature  and  science,  which 
had  begun  to  spring  up,  was  chiefly  excited  and  kept 
alive  by  himself.  The  laws  instituting  the  college,  the 
medical  school,  and  the  hospital,  were  procured  by  him. 
The  endowment,  not  an  inconsiderable  one,  was  mostly 
due  to  his  exertions.  He  had  talked,  written,  labored 
and  formed  plans  for  Cincinnati,  identifying  in  his  own 
mind  (and  who  would  not?)  his  own  fame  with  the 
growth  and  glory  of  the  institutions  he  founded.  But 
now  the  scene  was  changed.  His  reasonable  ambition 
was  charged  against  him  as  a  fault,  or  a  crime.  He  was 
expelled  from  the  Medical  College.  He  was  bitterly  op- 
posed by  many  of  his  own  profession — recent  comers, 
.who  probably  owed  to  his  writings  any  knowledge  of 
Cincinnati.  Finally,  the  commercial  disasters  of  the 
times  swept  over  the  West,  and  affected  him,  as  they  did 
others,  with  losses  and  disappointments.  His  commer- 
cial speculations  were  a  failure ;  his  purchase  of  goods 
in  the  East,  with  such  high  expectations  of  profit,  turned 
out  unfortunately.  The  business  of  Isaac  Drake  &  Co. 
had  to  be  wound  up,  and  the  drug  establishment  passed 
into  the  sole  hands  of  his  brother  Benjamin.  The  bright 
pictures  of  his  imagination  faded  away,  and  even  his 


HE   CONTEMPLATES   GOING   TO   PHILADELPHIA.        153 

sanguine  spirit  drooped,  as  it  beheld  the  ruin  of  so  many 
fair  fabrics,  from  which  he  had  anticipated  so  much  of 
advantage  to  himself  and  society. 

In  this  condition  of  disaster  and  disappointment,  he 
cast  about  for  something  in  the  future.  It  was  no  longer 
a  case  of  ambition,  but  an  effort  for  comfortable  main- 
tenance and  professional  success.  His  practice  had  been 
very  extensive,  and  apparently  lucrative ;  but  in  settling 
up  his  books  he  struck  off  no  less  than  six  hundred 
names,  from  whom  he  expected  nothing,  and  found 
hundreds  remaining,  from  whom  he  received  nothing. 
In  fine,  he  must  now  look  to  the  profit  as  well  as  extent 
of  his  practice ;  and  look  to  his  professional  exertions 
alone  as  the  source  of  pecuniary  advantage. 

When  in  Philadelphia  he  had  been  much  pleased  with 
the  profession  and  society  of  that  place.  He  now  made 
inquiries  as  to  his  own  prospects  should  he  remove 
there,  and  was  told,  by  the  most  intelligent  persons,  that 
his  success  was  certain.  He  accordingly  wrote  to  his  old 
friends  in  the  East,  that  he  had  determined  on  removing 
to  Philadelphia.  This  was  his  determination  at  that 
time ;  but  events  soon  arose  which  opened  the  way  to 
his  favorite  pursuit,  medical  teaching,  and  fixed  him  for 
the  residue  of  his  life  to  the  home  of  his  choice  and  his 
love,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio.  This  reversal  of  a  hasty 
judgment  wa^in  all  aspects  fortunate  ;  for  he  was  in  all 
respects  an  offspring  and  growth  of  the  Western  country, 
and  while  he  would  have  been  successful  and  admired 
in  any  society — would  have  been  less  useful,  less  iden- 
tified with  its  interests,  and  less  happy  in  his  own  mind, 
whose  genial  spirit  and  intellectual  activities  needed  the 
expansion  and  excitement  of  a  new  country.  Besides 
all  this,  the  mingling  of  commercial  with  professional 


154:  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

Dusiness  had  been  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  his  diffi- 
culties and  disasters ;  and  this  being  now  removed,  he 
had  here  a  full  opportunity  of  pursuing  a  literary  and 
scientific  career,  a  wide  and  comparatively  unoccupied 
field. 

Thus  ended  the  year  1822,  which  may  be  regarded  as 
a  crisis  in  his  life,  and  from  whose  gloorn  and  shadow 
he  emerged  through  sucessive  struggles,  to  a  wider 
reputation  and  more  successful  enterprises. 


::1;:  r;;V'          7, 

CHAPTER  VII. 

1822 — 1825 — Dr.  Drake  accepts  a  Professorship  in  Transylvania  Uni- 
versity— Its  Condition  and  Prospects— Its  Professors — Dr.  Drake's 
Success — Downfall  of  the  Literary  Department — Mr.  Holley — Poli- 
tics of  the  Day— Dr.  Drake  supports  Mr.  Clay  for  the  Presidency 
— Writes  "76  "  Letter  on  Clay's  Vote — Interview  at  Lebanon  with 
Clay  and  Clinton — Characteristics  of  Clay,  Clinton,  Adams,  and 
Calhoun — Dr.  Drake  Journeys  in  the  Miami  Valley — Death  of 
Mrs.  Drake — Anniversary  Hymn  to  her  Memory. 

THE  Medical  College  of  Ohio  was  revived  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  under  new  auspices.  The  defects  of  its 
organization  were  corrected.  The  Legislature  appointed 
a  board  of  trustees,  of  which  General  Harrison  was 
President,  and  in  whom  was  vested  the  power  of  appoint- 
ment and  dismissal  of  professors.  Dr.  Drake,  however, 
had  already  signified  his  willingness  to  accept  a  profes- 
sorship in  Transylvania  University,  and  to  that  he  was 
appointed  in  the  summer  of  1823.  In  October  he  re- 
moved there  with  his  family,  and  commenced  a  career  of 
medical  teaching  in  that  school,  which  continued  for 
many  years,  and  which  was  eminently  successful,  both 
for  the  school  and  himself.  The  medical  school  at  Lex- 
ington, in  the  course  of  about  thirty  years,  rose  to  great 
prosperity,  and  subsequently  declined  so  rapidly  as  to  be 
a  remarkable  example  in  the  vicissitudes  attendant  upon 
American  literary  institutions.  It  is  not  evident  how 
much  the  individual  reputation  of  its  professors  may 
have  had  to  do  with  its  progress,  nor  how  much  the  re- 
moval of  some  of  them  may  have  affected  its  declension ; 
but  it  is  certain,  the  accession  of  Dr.  Drake  at  this  time 
greatly  aided  its  prosperity.  There  were  more  than  twenty 

155 


156  LIFE   OF  DK.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

students  there  from  Ohio;  and  his  private  class  was 
among  the  largest  in  the  institution.  In  the  previous 
year  there  had  been  some  one  hundred  and  forty  stu- 
dents ;  now  the  dean  of  the  faculty  reported  two  hundred 
and  one  metriculated  students.  This  school  of  medicine 
had  now  taken  the  lead  of  any  in  the  West.  The 
schools  since  founded  at  Louisville  and  St.  Louis,  did  not 
exist ;  and  the  new  Medical  College  of  Ohio  had  not  re- 
vived from  its  utter  prostration  by  the  removal  of  Dr. 
Drake.  In  fact,  that  blow  was  not  only  hard  upon  him, 
but  as  thirty  years  subsequent  experience  proved,  was 
fatal  to  the  prospects  of  that  institution.  The  opportunity 
of  seizing  the  vantage  ground  was  lost,  and  Lexington, 
Louisville,  and  St.  Louis,  rose  in  succession  as  successful 
rivals  to  what  might  have  been  the  great  central  school 
of  medicine  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  The  tide 
which,  taken  at  its  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune,  flows  not 
only  to  individual  men,  but  to  states,  cities,  and  institu- 
tions. This  tide,  neglected  and  suffered  to  glide  by, 
returns  no  more;  and,  as  if  indignant  at  the  slight, 
flows  on  to  'more  sagacious  and  more  grateful  communi- 
ties. Cincinnati  seized  the  tide  of  prosperity  in  com- 
merce and  has  gone  on  to  wealth  and  greatness ;  but 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  zealous  and  disinterested  in- 
dividuals, it  has  neglected  its  opportunities  for  becoming 
a  great  center  of  science,  art,  and  literature.  These  may 
come  in  other  generations,  but  they  will  come  only  as  the 
appendages  of  commerce,  when  they  should  have  grown 
up  as  a  part  of  the  very  body  of  society.  To  have  made 
them  such  was  the  intention,  and  would  have  been  the 
effect  of  the  plan  of  Dr.  Drake.  The  college,  the  mu- 
seum, the  medical  school,  the  hospital — though  not  all 
that  would  have  been  required — were  a  broad  founda- 


- 

TRANSYLVANIA   UNIVERSITY.  157 

tion  for  a  noble  superstructure,  devoted  to  social  science 
and  intellectual  improvement.  We  have  seen  how  per- 
sonal rivalries,  jealousies,  and  selfishness — those  enemies 
of  all  public  good — converted  that  foundation  into  ruins  ; 
and  now,  when  their  founder  was  exiled,  they  languished 
and  struggled  during  the  next  twenty  years,  though  a 
bare  existence. 

It  had  been  said  that  Dr.  Drake's  "  quarrels  "  were 
the  cause  of  the  difficulties ;  but  he  was  now  at  Lexing 
ton,  surrounded  by  men  from  all  parts,  and  some  of  them 
not  of  the  mildest  temper,  yet  he  passed  through  the  ex- 
citement of  his  several  subsequent  winters  with  no 
quarrel — in  harmony  with  all  his  colleagues — and  a  peace- 
maker among  contending  parties.  In  this  very  winter 
there  were  three  controversies,  some  between  professors 
and  students,  and  among  professors  and  citizens,  in  all  of 
which  he  was  an  arbitrator  and  a  peace-maker.  In  all 
this  he  had  undoubtedly  learned  something  from  experi- 
ence, and  exercised  a  proper  degree  of  prudence  and 
discretion  in  his  intercourse  with  men.  His  conduct  was 
dignified  and  exemplary,  while  his  professional  abilities 
extended  his  reputation,  and  gave  him,  as  a  physician 
and  teacher,  a  high  position  in  the  country. 

At  this  time  Transylvania'  University  aimed  at  a 
splendid  success,  and  there  were  some  reasons  to  believe 
such  a  career  for  it  not  impossible.  Lexington  was 
large  and  sociable — a  very  agreeable  place.  Mr.  Clay, 
the  statesman  of  Kentucky,  lived  there.  The  University 
had  an  ample  charter  and  large  endowments,  and  it  had 
now  formed  classes  in  law,  medicine  and  the  arts. 
Among  its  professors  were  men  of  brilliant  talents  and 
wide  reputation.  Mr.  Holley  was  then  President — a 
man  distinguished  for  his  oratory,  his  elegance,  and  his 


158  LIFE  OF   DK.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

literature ;  Judge  Bledsoe,  one  of  the  law  professors, 
was  an  able  man  ;  Dr.  Caldwell  was  widely  known  as  a 
man  of  genius,  of  letters,  and  of  medicine ;  Dr.  Brown 
was  eminent  in  his  profession ;  Dr.  Dudley,  then  and  since, 
was  known  throughout  the  country  as  a  great  surgeon ; 
and,  finally,  Dr.  Drake  united  the  qualities  of  genius, 
energy,  and  professional  ability.  Altogether  a  greater 
array  of  strength,  of  brilliant  talents,  and  wide  repu- 
tation has  scarcely  ever  been  collected  at  one  time,  and 
.in  one  institution.  It  was  not  unreasonable,  then,  to  an- 
ticipate for  Transylvania  the  greatest  success.  The 
subsequent  history  of  the  university  proved,  however, 
the  failure  of  these  expectations,  and  that  neither  talents, 
endowments,  or  charters,  can  give  success  to  a  school  for 
the  education  of  youth,  without  the  higher  qualities  of 
religious  principle  and  sound  morals.  The  medical 
school  continued  for  many  years  in  successful  progress  ; 
but  the  university,  as  such,  was  completely  overthrown. 
The  cause  was  simple,  and  will  always  work  the  same 
effect.  The  religious  public,  who  are  alone  the  efficient 
supporters  of  collegiate  education,  found  that  Transyl- 
vania, in  its  literary  department,  was  what  they  deemed 
irreligious.  They  withdrew  their  support,  and  the 
institution  fell. 

President  Holley,  a  fine  orator  and  an  elegant  man, 
was  a  New  England  Unitarian,  who,  after  his  removal 
to  the  West,  carried  his  views  to  the  border,  if  not 
within  the  limits,  of  infidelity.  He  appeared,,  in  the 
pulpit,  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  but  was  so  ultra 
liberal  as  to  sneer  at  both  the  theory  and  the  practice  of 
what  is  deemed  orthodox  Christianity.  This  was  not  at 
first  known,  but  as  it  became  revealed,  the  religious  part 
of  the  trustees  and  the  public  were  alarmed.  Mr. 


FACULTY   OF  TEANSYLVANIA   UNIVERSITY.  159 

Holley  was  charged,  before  the  public,  with  his  religious 
heresy  and  his  irreverent  conduct.  A  part  of  the  trus- 
tees resigned.  The  Legislature  stepped  in  to  create  a 
new  board,  for  the  purpose  of  examination  and  correc- 
tion. The  result  was,  Holley  resigned.  The  university 
was  remodeled,  and  has  undergone  various  transforma- 
tions. But,  in  the  meanwhile,  the  Presbyterian  in- 
fluence was  turned  to  the  establishment  of  the  college  at 
Danville,  which  has  gradually  grown  up  to  be  an  impor- 
tant and  useful  institution.  Thus  the  literary  glory  of 
Transylvania  departed,  and  its  brilliant  prospects  were 
obscured. 

It  was  different,  however,  with  the  medical  school. 
There  was  no  religious  heresy  there  to  impair  the  confi- 
dence of  the  public,  and  happily  the  professors  were  not 
only  able  men,  but  were  harmonious  among  themselves. 
The  faculty,  at  the  time  of  Dr.  Drake's  arrival,  consisted 
of  himself,  Dr.  Dudley,  Dr.  Caldwell,  Dr.  Kichardson, 
Dr.  Brown,  and  Dr.  Blythe.  The  chair  of  Theory  and 
Practice  was  held  by  Dr.  Brown,  and  that  of  Surgery 
by  Dr.  Dudley.  The  chair  of  Materia  Medica  was 
assigned  to  Dr.  Drake.  He  commenced  his  new  labors 
in  November,  1823,  and  was  regularly  inaugurated  into 
his  professorship  with  university  formalities.  These 
preliminary  exercises,  with  other  professional  engage- 
ments, again  imposed  upon  him  much  labor.  He.  thus 
speaks  of  them:  "I  have  for  the  last  month  been 
engaged  to  the  most  intense  degree — first  in  attendance 
on  some  distant  patients,  afterwards  in  the  preparation 
of  an  introductory  lecture,  and  a  Latin  address,  to  be 
delivered  in  reply  to  the  President,  on  my  inauguration. 
This  took  place  on  Friday,  the  7th  instant,  in  the  chapel 
of  the  university.  The  oath  of  office  was  administered 


160  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

publicly,  by  the  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 
The  President  of  the  University  then  addressed  me  in 
the  Latin  language,  and  I  responded  to  him.  Immedi- 
ately afterwards  I  delivered  my  introductory.  I  was  far 
from  being  well  in  health,  and  not  a  little  agitated." 
Both  these  efforts  were  well  received.  His  introductory 
was  on  the  "  necessity  and  value  of  professional  indus- 
try," and  although  he  did  not  estimate  it  very  highly 
himself,  yet  the  class  appointed  a  committee  to  have  it 
published,  to  which  he  consented. 

In  the  commencement  of  his  professional  duties,  he 
prepared  an  entirely  new  set  of  lectures,  and,  in  addi- 
tion to  this,  gave  a  large  share  of  time  to  a  private  class 
of  pupils.  To  these  he  gave  a  lecture  and  an  examina- 
tion twice  a  day,  on  all  the  branches  of  the  profession, 
and  made  them  discuss  subjects  by  debate.  He  was  now 
in  a  pursuit  to  which  his  nature  and  taste  inclined  him. 
He  often  declared  that  if  he  had  a  natural  taste  for  any 
pursuit,  it  was  for  that  of  teaching  medicine.  He  was 
now  in  a  large  school,  and  had,  besides,  a  private  class, 
and  all  the  avenues  of  teaching  his  profession  were  open 
before  him.  The  labor  and  assiduity  required  were 
immense;  but  they  were  pleasant  to  him,  and  the 
winter  flowed  on  more  peacefully  and  cheerfully  to  him, 
than  had  any  one  in  several  years.  For  five  years  he 
had  been  harassed  by  various  duties,  by  ambitious  enter- 
prises, by  commercial  embarrassments,  and  vexatious 
controversies  in  his  profession.  He  was  now  relieved, 
at  least  from  the  sight  and  responsibility  of  the  difficul- 
ties and  controversies  he  left  behind,  and  enjoyed  a 
period  of  rest  and  peace.  Time  passed  away,  and  in 
March  the  graduating  class  at  Lexington  numbered 


DR.  DRAKE'S  SUCCESS.  161 

forty-seven,  a  larger  class  than  bad  ever  graduated  in 
the  West. 

The  summer  of  1824,  Dr.  Drake  spent  chiefly  at 
Lexington,  or  in  the  neighborhood,  much  employed  in 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  and,  when  he  could  find 
time,  in  short  journeys  with  his  family.  His  eldest 
child,  Charles,  (the  present  Charles  D.  Drake,  Esq.,  of 
St.  Louis.)  was  at  school  in  Bardstown.  He  had  patients 
to  visit  in  Frankfort,  and  his  parents  and  brother  were 
in  Cincinnati — thus  affording  him  an  opportunity  of 
relaxation,  while  pursuing  the  duties  of  business  and 
affection.  This  relaxation  he  greatly  needed;  for,  not- 
withstanding his  apparent  recovery  from  dyspepsia,  it 
revisited  him  at  times  with  great  severity.  About  this 
time  also  commenced  a  series  of  attacks  in  the  head, 
which  he  described  as  a  determination  of  blood  to  that 
organ.  These  were  often  very  severe,  and  the  remedy — 
bleeding — was  almost  equally  so.  This  complaint  he 
thought  constitutional,  and  in  some  degree  probably 
was.  But  all  who  have  either  observed  or  experienced 
the  effects  of  arduous  study  and  close  confinement, 
know  that  such  are  the  penalties  paid  by  literary  men 
for  their  self-imposed  labors  and  sedentary  habits. 

The  session  of  1824-5,  in  the  Lexington  school, 
opened  with  a  still  greater  success  than  had  attended 
the  last.  In  December,  (1824,)  there  were  no  less  than 
two  hundred  and  thirty-four  l>ona  fide  pupils,  and  Dr. 
Drake's  private  class  was  ffty-seven  in  number.  To 
his  private  class  he  paid  great  attention.  He  devoted 
much  time  to  them,  and  his  examinations  were  system- 
atic, connecting  physiology  with  anatomy,  and  pathology 
with  physiology. 

14 


162  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

In  the  summer  of  1824,  Dr.  Brown  had  gone  to 
Europe,  and  requested  Dr.  Drake,  if  he  should  not 
arrive  in  time,  to  lecture  in  his  place.  Accordingly, 
Dr.  Drake  delivered  twenty-six  lectures  for  him.  Of 
these  he  said — "I  taught  that  local  diseases  became 
general,  by  dependence  of  function,  and  by  nervous 
and  vascular  connection ;  and  that  sympathy  is  a  func- 
tion of  the  nervous  system.  I  have  taught  the  same 
more  minutely  to  my  private  pupils,  and  laboriously 
directed  their  attention  to  the  distribution  and  physi- 
ology of  the  nerves.  This  had  involved  me  with  the 
Professor  of  the  Institutes ;  and  we  have  had  two  meet- 
ings in  the  medical  society,  and  are  likely  to  have  many 
more."  The  Professor  of  the  Institutes  here  alluded  to 
was  Dr.  Caldwell,  with  whom  he  had,  then  and  in  many 
subsequent  years,  both  in  Lexington  and  Louisville, 
many  friendly  contests.  Dr.  Caldwell  was  thought,  by 
himself  and  admirers,  to  be  a  man  of  genius.  He  was 
certainly  one  who  had  performed  much  literary  labor, 
was  distinguished  in  his  profession,  and  widely  known 
to  the  public.  But,  with  this,  he  was  eccentric  in  some 
things,  and  erratic  in  his  views,  embracing  readily 
opinions  and  theories  which  are  very  slowly  received,  if 
at  all,  by  men  of  exact  science.  His  theories  of  phre- 
nology, of  disease,  of  spontaneous  vegetation,  etc.,  wrere 
among  those  which  he  held  as  truths,  but  are  as  firmly 
discredited  by  others.  I  am  incompetent  to  judge  him ; 
but  he  had  one  merit  which  few  have.  He  was  too  fair 
minded  to  treat  a  criticism  as  an  insult,  and  too  amiable 
to  convert  differences  of  opinion  into  causes  of  personal 
offense.  Hence,  he  and  Dr.  Drake  were  on  friendly  and 
intimate  terms,  though  holding  many  an  intellectual 
tournament  about  their  respective  views  and  opinions* 


DEBATE   WITH   DK.   CALDWELL.  163 

These  generally  occurred  in  the  medical  debating 
society.  Of  one,  Dr.  Drake  gives  the  following  humor- 
ous account,  which,  although  ex  parte,  I  presume  to  be 
tolerably  correct:  "On  Friday  night,  after  you  left  this, 
my  learned  friend,  Professor  Caldwell,  came  forward  with 
his  heavy  artillery,  and  opened  an  uninterrupted  fire  of 
two  hours  and  twenty  minutes  upon  one  of  the  bastions 
of  my  little  fortress.  I  began  to  return  his  fire,  loading 
my  blunderbuss  with  facts  and  quotations  from  many 
substantial  works,  obtained  from  the  library  which  he 
selected  in  Europe.  It  being  late,  the  society  adjourned. 
Last  Friday  night,  I  mounted  the  battery  and  returned 
his  fire  for  two  hours  and  thirty  minutes.  At  ten,  he 
commenced  another  cannonading,  and  continued  it  for 
forty-five  minutes.  My  batteries  were  silenced.  The 
question  was,  whether  plants  grew  up  without  seeds, 
cuttings,  or  sprouts.  I  had  asserted  they  do  not,  and 
this  led  to  the  bombarding.  The  doctor,  in  his  last 
words,  declared  that  my  'learned,  ingenious,  ardent,  and 
eloquent  speech '  was  lost  upon  him,  for  I  had  mistaken 
the  matter  in  dispute  between  us." 

I  must  now  turn  from  the  professional  career  of  Dr. 
Drake  to  other  elements  in  his  character,  of  a  more 
general  nature ;  and  to  others  again  more  profoundly 
affecting  his  inner  life.  In  social  interests,  whether  of 
the  family,  the  community,  or  the  country,  he  had  the 
most  lively  and  earnest  sympathy.  Hence,  he  could 
not  look  upon  public  affairs  with  indifference.  I  have 
related  how  strongly  his  feelings  were  engaged  in  the 
war  of  1812,  in  which  many  of  his  friends  were  per- 
sonally involved.  These  events  led  him  to  sympathize 
with  the  Republican  party,  and,  as  a  "Western  man,  fa- 
vorable to  Western  interests,  with  the  great  leader  of  that 


164:  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DKAKE. 

party  from  the  West — Mr.  Clay.  When  now  he  was 
thrown  into  the  same  social  circle,  with  one  whose  ad- 
dress was  fascinating,  and  towards  whom  he  was  already 
favorably  disposed,  it  was  quite  natural  that  he  should 
adopt  the  same  political  views,  and  look  to  the  same  po- 
litical objects.  Accordingly,  when  in  the  winter  of  1823- 
24,  the  friends  of  several  eminent  statesmen  urged  their 
respective  claims  for  the  Presidency,  Dr.  Drake  unhesi- 
tatingly took  the  part  of  Mr.  Clay,  as  the  man  among 
those  most  likely  to  be  successful,  whose  views  of  public 
policy  were  most  favorable  to  Western  interests.  In 
April,  1824,  he  wrote  a  series  of  papers  on  the  "  Presi- 
dency," which  were  published  in  the  Cincinnati  Gazette, 
and  signed  "Seventy-Six."  Their  author  was,  I  believe, 
unknown  at  the  time,  but  they  were  widely  circulated,  and 
written  with  more  than  common  vigor.  The  style  and 
argument  of  these  papers  may  be  known  by  a  few  para- 
graphs of  the  second  number,  which  I  shall  quote. 
Speaking  of  the  Presidency,  he  says:  "Among  the 
candidates  for  this  office,  I  prefer  Mr.  Clay.  Could  Mr. 
Clinton  have  been  put  in  nomination,  or  that  of  Mr. 
Calhoun  been  sustained,*  my  preference  might  have  been 
less  exclusive ;  for  these  distinguished  citizens  are  with 
Mr.  Clay  in  their  political  principles.  As  it  is,  the 
friends  of  internal  improvement  must  rest  their  hopes 
upon  that  gentleman,  and  happily  all  who  have  studied 
his  character  as  a  statesman,  may  do  it  with  perfect  con- 
fidence. The  traits  of  that  character  are  too  strong,  and 


*In  1824,  Mr.  Calhoun  was  put  forward  for  the  Presidency,  and 
strongly  supported  in  Pennsylvania  and  Connecticut.  He  was  very 
popular  in  most  of  the  Nothern  States.  As  Doctor  Drake  remarks 
above,  Messrs.  Clinton,  Clay,  and  Calhoun  then  stood  on  the  same  na- 
tional platform,  being  favorable  to  the  tariff  and  internal  improvement. 


SUPPORTS   MK.   CLAY   FOR   THE   PRESIDENCY.         165 

have  been  too  strikingly  exhibited,  to  be  misunderstood. 
He  has  been  a  public  servant  for  twenty  years.  The 
duties  assigned  him  have  not  been  performed  in  an  ob- 
scure corner  of  the  Republic,  or  at  a  foreign  court.  His 
chief  scene  of  action  has  been  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, decidedly  the  best  school  for  a  statesman  which 
the  country  affords.  Among  the  numerous  actors  in 
that  great  theatre,  he  has  long  been  prominent,  as  an 
independent  and  enlightened  patriot,  a  vigilent  sentinel 
of  Republican  principles,  an  eloquent  and  able  advocate 
of  that  system  of  policy,  by  which  only  the  nation  can 
be  rendered  strong  in  its  resistance  to  attack  from  with- 
out, or  from  factions  within." 

In  subsequent  paragraphs  he  maintained  that  a  states- 
man bred  in  the  West,  must,  from  his  very  position 
and  experience,  be  better  qualified  for  the  Presidency 
than  one  from  the  East  or  the  South.  He  argued  that 
they  had  peculiar  interests,  as  well  of  commerce  as  of 
planting ;  but  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  were 
united,  by  necessity,  all  the  interests  of  agriculture,  com- 
merce, and  manufactures.  Proceeding  with  this  argu- 
ment, he  said  "  that  a  Western  politician,  schooled  only 
in  the  West,  would  of  necessity  embrace  in  his  code  of 
political  economy,  all  the  interests  of  the  Union.  Such 
a  statesman  should  be  regarded  as  peculiarly  fitted  for 
the  administration  of  the  federal  government.  That 
government  rests  upon  concessions  and  compromises. 
Every  State  has  interests  that  are  in  some  degree  at  vari- 
ance with  every  other.  It  was  designed  that  the  federal 
administration  should  reconcile  these  contrarieties,  and 
maintain  the  confederacy  by  exacting  from  all  the  parts 
the  sacrifices  required  by  the  constitution,  while  it  se- 
cured to  all  the  benefits  contemplated  by  the  venerated 


166  LIFE   OF  DK.   DANIEL  DKAKE. 

authors  of  that  admirable  compact.  Now,  whatever 
might  be  the  strength  of  mind  and  the  attainments  of  a 
President  of  the  United  States,  if  his  previous  pursuits 
and  his  opportunities  for  observation  had  not  permitted 
him  to  look  with  an  equal  eye  upon  every  State,  and 
every  interest,  he  would  be  found  deficient,  in  a  most 
important  quality,  for  the  oiHce  of  Chief  Magistrate. 
The  advocates  for  the  election  of  Mr.  Clay  need  not 
dread  the  comparison  which,  in  these  points,  he  would 
make  with  any  one  of  the  rival  candidates.  Indeed,  it 
may  be  fearlessly  asserted  that,  in  this  indispensable 
qualification  for  the  Presidency,  he  is  without  a  rival." 

"  SEVENTY-SIX." 
These  articles  were  far  beyond  the  common  average 
of  political  essays,  in  both  thought  and  style.  But,  un- 
fortunately for  the  objects  of  the  writer,  men  judge  of 
the  qualifications  necessary  for  a  President  by  their 
feelings  and  their  interests,  rather  than  by  what  is  needed 
for  the  office.  Besides  this,  Mr.  Clay  was  at  that  time 
too  young,  in  the  estimation  of  the  people,  for  such  a  dis- 
tinction. The  same  was  said  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  who, 
being  brought  forward  at  the  same  time,  was  soon  aban- 
doned by  his  friends,  and  never  again  reached  the  same 
share  of  popularity  which  he  then  enjoyed.  It  is  re- 
markable that  these  men  should  have  pursued  careers  so 
nearly  parallel — should  have  been  so  high  in  public 
opinion — should  have  been  personally  so  powerful  with 
men  and  parties — should  hold  such  commanding  influ- 
ence in  Legislation,  and  yet  should  be  so  completely 
disappointed  in  the  objects  of  their  ambition.  The 
causes  are  not  mysterious — 

" Vaulting  ambition  o'er  leaps  itself." 

They  were  in  too  great  haste.     They  were  disappointed 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  MESSES.  CLAY,  CALHOUN,  ETC.   167 

in  their  first  attempt  to  reach  the  prize.  Impelled  by  a 
common  principle  of  human  nature,  they  immediately 
sought  the  cause,  not  in  themselves,  nor  in  the  public 
judgment,  but  in  some  hostile  and  malign  influences  of 
opponents — in  conspiracies  against  them,  or  in  the  jeal- 
ous prejudices  of  some  section  of  the  country.  The 
consequence  of  this  feeling  in  them  and  their  friends 
was  the  formation  of  parties,  which  lasted  thirty  years. 
From  statesmen  they  became  chiefs  of  political  sects, 
and  like  Lord  Bacon,  before  them — 

'•  Gave  up  to  party  what  was  meant  for  mankind." 

There  was,  however,  one  wide  difference  in  the  re- 
spective careers  of  Clay  and  Calhoun,  which,  while 
history  lasts,  will  place  Mr.  Clay  on  higher  ground  than 
"Mr.  Calhoun  can  ever  occupy. 

In  the  number  of  "  Seventy-Six  "  quoted,  Dr.  Drake 
says :  "  Could  Mr.  Clinton  have  been  put  in  nomination, 
or  that  of  Mr.  Calhoun  been  sustained,  my  preference  might 
have  been  less  exclusive ;  for  these  distinguished  citizens 
are  with  Mr.  Clay  in  their  political  principles"  This 
was  strictly  true.  In  1824  no  man  was  better  known  as 
a  friend  of  internal  improvement  by  the  government, 
or  of  a  strong  national  administration,  than  Mr.  Cal- 
houn. When  his  ambition  was  disappointed,  and  he 
found  that  ground  occupied  by  Clinton,  Clay,  Adams, 
and,  at  that  period,  even  Jackson,  he  suddenly  changed 
his  entire  policy.  He  became  the  bitter  opponent  of 
tariff  and  internal  improvement ;  and  adopted  a  theory 
of  government,  which,  if  practically  carried  out,  would 
have  dissevered  the  Union.  He  professed  to  think  that 
his  "  State  interposition  "  was  a  peaceful  remedy  to  the 
ills  of  government ;  but  the  splendid  speech  of  Mr. 
Webster  forever  dissipated  such  an  illusion.  If  we 

^      < 


* 

*  * 

168  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

suppose  Mr.  Calhoun  to  have  been  self-deceived,  it  can 
only  be  considered  as  one  of  the  numerous  instances  in 
which  the  understanding  is  bewildered  by  the  heart. 

Mr.  Clay,  on  the  other  hand,  remained  firm  in  his 
convictions.  An  American  government,  nationalized 
in  all  its  interests,  and  beneficent  in  its  operations, 
.positive  and  not  negative — a  something,  and  not  a 
nullity — was  his  view  of  our  political  institutions  ;  and 
his  policy  conformed  to  that  theory.  From  the  war  of 
1812  to  the  period  of  his  death,  he  was  true  to  this 
ideality  of  government,  and,  amidst  all  the  phases  of 
policy,  gave  his  splendid  talents  to  make  it  effective  in 
the  administration  of  our  affairs.  He  was  to  some  extent 
successful.  More  than  once,  when  the  wild  wave  of  popu- 
lar delusion  threatened  to  convert  the  Republic  into  a 
mere  chaos  of  unregulated  democracy,  he,  and  the  con- 
servatives of  the  Senate,  raised  a  rampart  strong  enough 
to  resist,  while  the  people  gained  time  to  think.  Thus 
we  were  saved  from  civil  conflicts  in  the  time  of  nullifi- 
cation— from  a  collision  with  England  on  the  Oregon 
question — and  from  much  evil  and  disgrace  in  our  inter- 
course with  foreign  nations.  This  high  merit  Mr.  Clay 
had,  that  he  was  true  to  the  nation  and  its  highest 
interests,  in  all  political  vicissitudes,  in  civil  dissension 
at  home,  or  war  abroad.  None  deserved  better,  than  he 
to  be  called  the  great  American  Commoner. 

With  the  character  of  Mr.  Clay,  that  of  Dr.  Drake 
had  some  points  of  similarity.  They  were  alike  enthu- 
siastic, impulsive,  energetic,  and  natural.  They  took  the 
same  views  of  public  affairs,  and,  from  the  moment  of 
their  first  acquaintance  at  Lexington,  sympathized  to- 
gether, so  far  as  men  could  so  utterly  dissimilar  in  their 
pursuits.  Dr.  Drake,  except  in  his  sympathy  with  Mr. 


GENERAL  JACKSON.  169 


Clay,  and  his  conservative  views  of  public  policy,  had 
little  to  do  with  politics  ;  and  Mr.  Clay  had  little  to  do 
with  anything  else. 

The  purpose  of  Dr.  Drake  in  writing  "  Seventy-Six  " 
was,  it  is  well  known,  not  accomplished.  While  the 
claims  of  Messrs.  Adams,  Crawford,  Clay,  and  Calhoun, 
were  discussed,  entirely  new  circumstances  were  intro- 
duced into  the  canvass,  which  changed  the  relative  posi- 
tion of  the  parties.  The  health  of  Mr.  Crawford,  who 
had  been  previously  supposed  the  strongest  candidate, 
was  so  seriously  impaired  that  the  public  mind  felt 
doubtful  of  his  fitness  for  so  responsible  a  place ;  and 
in  the  end  he  was  left  one  of  the  lowest  candidates.  In 
the  mean  time  a  new  candidate,  and  most  extraordinary 
man,  appeared  upon  the  stage. 

General  Jackson  had  previously  been  nominated  by 
some  public  meetings  in  Pennsylvania,  but  was  by  no 
one  thought  formidable  to  his  competitors,  till  a  new 
movement  placed  him  high  in  public  favor.  This  was 
the  withdrawal  of  Messrs.  Clinton  and  Calhoun.  The 
friends  of  the  former  were  also  generally,  especially  in 
the  West,  the  friends  of  Jackson.  Mr.  Clinton  declined 
the  canvass,  which  gave  new  strength  to  Jackson.  In 
the  South,  Calhoun  also  withdrew,  and  the  great  body 
of  his  friends  in  that  section  supported  Jackson.  Thus 
reinforced,  the  military  glory  of  General  Jackson  soon 
found  new  friends  to  trumpet  it  forth  before  the  world. 
The  battle  of  New  Orleans  was  emblazoned  on  party  ban- 
ners, shouted  at  cross-road  meetings,  and  sung  in  patriotic 
songs.  In  the  Middle  and  Western  States  this  had 
great  effect,  and  there  what  Jackson  gained,  Clay  lost. 
In  the  North,  Mr.  Adams  retained  his  strength,  and 
among  his  friends  the  hero  of  New  Orleans  gained  but 

15 


ame 

the 

,  for 


170  LIFE   OF  DR.    DANIEL   DKAKE. 

little.  As  the  canvass  drew  to  a  close,  the  result  becan 
very  doubtful.  Dr.  Drake  wrote  to  his  friends  in 
East,  that  the  vote  of  Ohio  was  absolutely  certain 
Mr.  Clay.  It  was,  indeed,  given  to  him,  yet  by  so  small 
a  plurality  over  Jackson  as  to  show  that  the  event  was 
very  uncertain.  Perhaps  no  one  State  better  developed 
the  fact  that  the  people  had  voted  by  their  feelings  and 
prejudices,  rather  than  their  judgment.  Ohio  was  settled 
mainly  by  three  distinct  emigrations  of  people  from 
other  States.  These  were  the  New  England  people,  those 
from  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  and,  those  of  South- 
ern extraction,  from  Virginia  and  Kentucky.  The  latter 
body  were  very  numerous  in  certain  sections,  and  ha 
the  greatest  number  of  influential  public  men.  "VVhec 
the  election  came  on,  each  of  these  bodies  voted,  wit 
few  exceptions,  for  its  own  candidate.  The  New  Eng- 
land people,  on  the  Western  Reserve  and  in  the  larg 
towns,  voted  for  Mr.  Adams;  the  Pennsylvania  and 
Jersey  people,  in  the  middle  counties  and  the  Miami 
country,  voted  for  Jackson;  while  the  Kentucky  and 
Virginia  population,  on  the  Scioto,  the  Muskingun 
and  the  Upper  Miami,  supported  Clay.  This  was 
general  rule,  though  there  were  many  exceptions,  esp 
cially  among  professional  men,  who  were  generally 
great  admirers  of  Mr.  Clay.  He  got  the  vote  of  this 
State,  but  was  the  lowest  of  the  candidates.  The 
historical  consequences  are  well  known!  The  people 
failed  to  make  an  election.  Messrs.  Adams,  Jackson, 
and  Crawford  were  presented  to  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives for  their  choice.  Of  that  House  Mr.  Clay 
was  a  member,  and  there  arose  to  his  mind  a  question 
of  the  greatest  delicacy  and  responsibility.  He,  and  his 
political  friends,  held  the  vote  of  four  States — Ohio, 


ME.  ADAMS'  ELECTION.  171 

Kentucky,  Illinois,  and  Missouri — and  on  the  vote  of 
these  States  depended  the  election  to  be  made  by  the 
House.  In  fact,  it  was  a  choice  only  between  Mr. 
Adams  and  General  Jackson,  for  Mr.  Crawford's  de- 
clining health  had  placed  him,  in  a  great  measure,  out 
of  the  question.  Mr.  Clay  was  most  delicately  situated. 
It  was  certainly  not  proper  that  he  should  proclaim  his 
intentions  in  advance  upon  the  house-tops,  for  it  was  not 
proper  finally  to  determine  what  was  almost  a  judicial 
case  without  consultation  with  others  at  Washington. 
So  far  as  depended  upon  himself  alone,  however,  he  did 
not  hesitate  to  express  his  decision  to  his  confidential 
friends.  Dr.  Drake  was  one  of  these,  and  before  Mr. 
Clay  left  Lexington,  he  declared  to  Dr.  Drake  that  he 
should  vote  for  Mr.  Adams.  This  was,  no  doubt,  con- 
trary to  popular  opinion,  for  in  the  West,  where  Mr. 
Clay's  strength  lay,  the  choice  had  only  been  between 
himself  and  General'  Jackson.  He  was,  however, 
actuated  by  higher  motives  than  the  mere  desire  of 
popularity.  He  really  believed  General  Jackson  far 
inferior  to  Mr.  Adams  in  point  of  statesmanship,  and 
that  his  military  habits,  especially  his  tendency  to 
arbitrary  conduct,  rendered  him  unfit  for  high  civil 
station. 

In  the  month  of  February,  1825,  the  election  came 
on,  and  Mr.  Adams  was  chosen  President.  Mr.  Clay 
and  his  friends  gave  him  their  votes,  and  turned  the 
scale  against  Jackson.  In  a  few  days  Mr.  Adams  was 
inaugurated.  Having  been  a  colleague  of  Mr.  Clay  in 
the  embassy  of  Ghent,  knowing  him  well,  estimating 
his  qualifications  highly,  and  paying  due  regard  to  his 
political  weight,  the  President  nominated  him  as  Secre- 
tary of  State.  This  presented  another  most  delicate  and 


174  LIFE   OF  DE.   DANIEL  DEAKE. 

not  reached  him.  Of  inflexible  integrity  and  fearless 
courage,  he  was  unmoved  by  the  waves  of  the  multitude, 
and  unawed  by  the  denunciation  of  demagogues.  Fol- 
low not  the  multitude  to  do  evil,  was  as  much  a  part  of 
his  character  as  resistance  to  tyrants,  and  he  was  faithful 
in  both.  Such  men  do  not  follow,  but  make  public 
opinions ;  and,  at  whatever  distant  interval,  the  public 
mind  at  length  returns  to  the  truths  which  their  saga- 
city perceived.  The  politicians  laughed  at  Mr.  Adams 
for  proposing  a  Light-house  of  the  skies,  yet  ended  by 
building  a  National  Observatory.  They  denounced  the 
Panama  mission,  yet  have  since  sent  a  dozen  missions 
to  annex  and  acquire  neighboring  territory.  They  de- 
nounced the  survey  of  a  few  interior  roads,  and  have 
since  surveyed  routes  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 
They  denounced  the  expenditure  of  twelve  millions  per 
annum,  and  have  since  expended  fifty  millions.  He 
predicted  and  exposed  the  schemes  of  Mexican  annexa- 
tion, and  they  have  realized  his  prediction.  They  de- 
nied the  right  of  petition,  and  he  compelled  them  to 
yield,  by  an  eloquence  and  argument  which  placed 
America  beside  ancient  Athens,  in  the  fame  and  genius 
of  its  oratory.  Upon  his  monument  it  might  be  in- 
scribed with  historical  truth ; 

Justum  et  tenacem  propositi  verum, 
Non  cimcum  ardor  prava  jubentium, 
Non  vultus  instantis  tyranni 
Mente  quatit  solida. 

In  the  summer  of  1825,  Dr  Drake  traveled  through 
the  Miami  country,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  in  hopes 
of  benefitting  her  impaired  health.  In  this  journey  he 
met  both  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Clinton  at  Lebanon.  Great 
efforts  had  been  made  to  alienate  these  eminent  states- 


INTERVIEW   WITH   MESSRS.   CLAY   AND   CLINTON.      175 

men.  Mr.  Clinton  was  represented  as  the  special  friend 
of  General  Jackson,*  and  Mr.  Clay  as  his  great  enemy. 
On  this  occasion,  however,  they  both  met  in  a  friendly 
spirit,  at  a  public  dinner,  given  more  particularly  to  Mr. 
Clinton,  as  the  friend  of  internal  improvement.f  Dr. 
Drake  took  great  interest  in  both  these  gentlemen,  and 
commented  to  me  on  their  difference  of  character, 
which,  for  men  belonging  to  the  same  country,  and  en- 
gaged in  the  same  general  range  of  public  life,  were  very 
striking.  Perhaps  no  two  American  statesmen  were 
more  opposite.  Mr.  Clinton  was,  in  personal  appear- 
ance, a  very  handsome  man  ;  with  high  expanded  fore  • 
head,  clear  eye,  regular  features,  and  florid  complexion. 
Mr.  Clay  was  rather  an  ugly  man,  with  a  sharp  eye, 
indeed,  but  a  huge  nose,  wide  mouth,  and  uncertain 
complexion.  Mr.  Clinton  was  a  scholar,  a  man  of  let- 
ters, an  elegant  writer,  and  of  thoughtful  manner.  Mr. 
Clay  was  not  a  scholar,  nor  a  man  of  letters,  and  although 
he  could  write  the  Anglo-American  language  very  re- 
spectably, he  would  never  shine  as  a  writer.  Mr.  Clin- 
ton, in  accordance  with  his  real  character,  seemed  more 
like  a  retired  student  than  a  living"  statesman  ;  and  al- 
though very  social  in  his  habits,  and  pleasant  in  his  con- 
versation, seemed  out  of  place  when  called  on  to  address 
a  public  meeting,  or  take  part  at  a  public  dinner.  Here, 

*  Several  years  before  this  General  Jackson  had  taken  a  fancy  to 
Mr.  Clinton,  and  once,  when  invited  to  a  public  dinner  in  Tammany 
Hall,  had  toasted  him,  to  the  great  consternation  of  the  Bucktails,  who 
were  then  waging  war  upon  Clinton. 

f  This  dinner  was  given  soon  after  breaking  ground  for  the  Miami 
Canal,  in  July,  1825.  Mr.  Clinton  and  Governor  Morrow,  (a  citizen  of 
Warren  county,)  had  together  thrown  up  the  first  spadefuls  of  earth. 


174  LIFE   OF  DK.   DANIEL  DKAKE. 

not  reached  him.  Of  inflexible  integrity  and  fearless 
courage,  he  was  unmoved  by  the  waves  of  the  multitude, 
and  unawed  by  the  denunciation  of  demagogues.  Fol- 
low not  the  multitude  to  do  evil,  was  as  much  a  part  of 
his  character  as  resistance  to  tyrants,  and  he  was  faithful 
in  both.  Such  men  do  not  follow,  but  make  public 
opinions ;  and,  at  whatever  distant  interval,  the  public 
mind  at  length  returns  to  the  truths  which  their  saga- 
city perceived.  The  politicians  laughed  at  Mr.  Adams 
for  proposing  a  Light-house  of  the  skies,  yet  ended  by 
building  a  National  Observatory.  They  denounced  the 
Panama  mission,  yet  have  since  sent  a  dozen  missions 
to  annex  and  acquire  neighboring  territory.  They  de- 
nounced the  survey  of  a  few  interior  roads,  and  have 
since  surveyed  routes  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 
They  denounced  the  expenditure  of  twelve  millions  per 
annum,  and  have  since  expended  fifty  millions.  He 
predicted  and  exposed  the  schemes  of  Mexican  annexa- 
tion, and  they  have  realized  his  prediction.  They  de- 
nied the  right  of  petition,  and  he  compelled  them  to 
yield,  by  an  eloquence  and  argument  which  placed 
America  beside  ancient  Athens,  in  the  fame  and  genius 
of  its  oratory.  Upon  his  monument  it  might  be  in- 
scribed with  historical  truth ; 

Justum  et  tenacem  propositi  verum, 
Non  civicum  ardor  prava  jubentium, 
Non  vultus  instantis  tyranni 
Mente  quatit  solida. 

In  the  summer  of  1825,  Dr  Drake  traveled  through 
the  Miami  country,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  in  hopes 
of  benefitting  her  impaired  health.  In  this  journey  he 
met  both  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Clinton  at  Lebanon.  Great 
efforts  had  been  made  to  alienate  these  eminent  states- 


INTERVIEW   WITH   MESSRS.   CLAY   AND   CLINTON.      175 

men.  Mr.  Clinton  was  represented  as  the  special  friend 
of  General  Jackson,*  and  Mr.  Clay  as  his  great  enemy. 
On  this  occasion,  however,  they  both  met  in  a  friendly 
spirit,  at  a  public  dinner,  given  more  particularly  to  Mr. 
Clinton,  as  the  friend  of  internal  improvement.!  Dr. 
Drake  took  great  interest  in  both  these  gentlemen,  and 
commented  to  me  on  their  difference  of  character, 
which,  for  men  belonging  to  the  same  country,  and  en- 
gaged in  the  same  general  range  of  public  life,  were  very 
striking.  Perhaps  no  two  American  statesmen  were 
more  opposite.  Mr.  Clinton  was,  in  personal  appear- 
ance, a  very  handsome  man  ;  with  high  expanded  fore  • 
head,  clear  eye,  regular  features,  and  florid  complexion. 
Mr.  Clay  was  rather  an  ugly  man,  with  a  sharp  eye, 
indeed,  but  a  huge  nose,  wide  mouth,  and  uncertain 
complexion.  Mr.  Clinton  was  a  scholar,  a  man  of  let- 
ters, an  elegant  writer,  and  of  thoughtful  manner.  Mr. 
Clay  was  not  a  scholar,  nor  a  man  of  letters,  and  although 
he  could  write  the  Anglo-American  language  very  re- 
spectably, he  would  never  shine  as  a  writer.  Mr.  Clin- 
ton, in  accordance  with  his  real  character,  seemed  more 
like  a  retired  student  than  a  living'  statesman  ;  and  al- 
though very  social  in  his  habits,  and  pleasant  in  his  con- 
versation, seemed  out  of  place  when  called  on  to  address 
a  public  meeting,  or  take  part  at  a  public  dinner.  Here, 

*  Several  years  before  this  General  Jackson  had  taken  a  fancy  to 
Mr.  Clinton,  and  once,  when  invited  to  a  public  dinner  in  Tammany 
Hall,  had  toasted  him,  to  the  great  consternation  of  the  Bucktails,  who 
were  then  waging  war  upon  Clinton. 

f  This  dinner  was  given  soon  after  breaking  ground  for  the  Miami 
Canal,  in  July,  1825.  Mr.  Clinton  and  Governor  Morrow,  (a  citizen  of 
Warren  couuty,)  had  together  thrown  up  the  first  spadefuls  of  earth. 


176  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

he  was  rather  slow  in  calling  up  his  ideas,  and  apparept- 
]j  cold  in  his  address.  Mr.  Clay,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
prompt  and  ready  on  all  public  occasions ;  he  was  then 
in  his  element ;  his  quick  eye  spanned  the  eagle's  glance ; 
his  words  poured  rapidly  forth;  his  hand  moved  in 
natural  gestures ;  and  he  assumed  the  whole  form  and 
attitude  of  the  commanding  orator.  At  once  graceful 
and  impulsive,  fiery  and  courteous,  he  was  the  very 
impersonation  of  an  American  bred  to  speaking  in  popu- 
lar assemblies,  and  gifted  by  natural  genius  to  sway 
the  passions  of  the  multitude.  Mr.  Clinton  was  the 
scholar — Mr.  Clay  the  orator.  Both  were  fairly  called 
statesmen;  and  both  deserved  the  highest  rewards  of 
their  country ;  but  neither  were  ever  destined  to  reach 
the  high  prize  which  was  the  mark  of  their  ambition. 

It  has  been  said,  that  republics  are  ungrateful. 
This  may  be  doubted.  But  that  they  are  jealous  of  high 
qualities,  or  superior  genius,  seems  to  be  fully  confirmed 
by  the  testimony  of  history.  In  other  words,  while  there 
is  a  universal  admiration  for  superior  men,  yet,  when 
there  is  favor  to  be  conferred,  these  qualities  seem  to  re- 
pel rather  than  attract.  CALHODN,  whether  on  one  or 
the  other  side  of  public  policy,  admired  by  all  for  both 
genius  and  integrity,  was  never  popular.  DEWITT  CLIN- 
TON, with  a  genius  more  splendid,  a  learning  seldom 
equaled  in  public  men,  a  name  of  wide  renown,  failed 
to  reach  the  Presidency.  DANIEL  WEBSTER  was  coldly 
rejected,  when  the  world  acknowledged  in  him  one  of 
the  giants  who  towered  above  the  race,  and  the  times. 
CLAY,  with  an  eloquence  unrivaled,  at  the  head  of  a 
powerful  political  organization,  embracing  the  largest 
portion  of  the  talent  and  wealth  of  the  country,  yet 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  MESSRS.  CLINTON,  CLAY,  ETC.   177 

failed  in  competition  with  men,  in  all  respects,  his  in- 
feriors.* So  of  others,  in  past  time,  who  like  these, 
have  no  sooner  been  removed  from  the  public  stage,  than 
they  have  been  pronounced  by  the  voice  of  the  multi- 
tude, no  less  than  the  grave  verdict  of  history,  as  the 
leaders  of  their  country,  the  impersonation  of  their  times  ! 
In  this  they  only  add  new  names  to  the  long  catalogue 
of  those  who  illustrate  the  vanity  of  human  wishes — 

"See  nations  slowly  wise  and  meanly  just, 
To  buried  merit,  raise  the  tardy  bust," 

To  Dr.  Drake,  the  company  of  statesmen  only  afforded 
a  new  opportunity  for  his  observation  on  human  nature, 
for  he  held  practically  and  really  that — 

"  The  proper  study  of  mankind  was  man." 

Indeed,  to  one  who  wrould  be  a  great  physician,  the 
phscycological,  not  less  then  the  physiological  study  of 
man  is  necessary  ;  for  who  can  say  where  terminates  the 
region  of  the  mind  or  the  body  ?  Who  can  say  in  how 
many  ways  the  peculiarities  of  mind  influence  the  body  ? 
He  was  much  interested  in  the  different  manifestations 
of  mind  and  character  in  Clinton,  Clay,  and  Monroe,  at 
this  time,  and  in  those  of  Adams,  Webster,  Everett,  and 
others,  in  a  subsequent  period.  In  Mr.  Webster,  as  he 
saw  him  at  home,  he  was  much  pleased  with  a  fondness 
for  rural  life  and  home  scenes,  which  he  had  not  expected 

*  I  heard  a  distinguished  member  of  Washington's  administration 
say,  that  great  genius  was  not  required  for  the  Presidency.  It  was 
only  necessary  to  have  a  plain  business  man,  of  patriotism  and 
sound  judgment.  Whether  this  theory  be  true  or  not,  the  American 
people  seems  to  practice  on  the  idea  that  greatness  is  rather  a  bar 
than  a  recommendation  to  the  Presidency.  It  would  be  a  satire  on 
truth,  to  affirm  that  either  Monroe,  Van  Buren,  Polk,  or  Pierce  pos- 
sessed genius,  or  belonged  to  the  first  order  of  statesmen. 


178  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

to  find,  but  which  well  corresponded  with  his  own  tastes 
and  views.  He  never  swerved,  however,  from  his  first 
political  love,  which  was  the  policy  and  character  of  Mr. 
Clay.  He  loved  the  natural  boldness,  the  impulsive  en- 
ergy, the  fiery  oratory,  and  tlje  American  sentiments  of 
the  great  Western  statesman,  and  those  qualities  lost 
nothing  in  his  estimation  by  comparison  with,  what  seem- 
ed to  him,  the  colder  address,  though  greater  learning,  of 
Clinton  and  of.  Adams. 

The  meeting  of  Mr.  Clay  and  Dr.  Drake  was  to  the 
former  a  melancholy  one.  Mr.  Clay's  youngest  daugh- 
ter, a  child,  was  then  sick  with  remittent  fever,  and,  in 
spite  of  all  medical  skill,  died  before  he  left  the  town. 

The  time  was  now  approaching  when  Dr.  Drake  was 
himself  to  endure  the  severest  of  human  trials.  The 
journey,  during  the  summer,  in  parts  of  Ohio  and  Ken- 
tucky, had  been  undertaken  solely  to  benefit  Mrs.  Drake's 
health.  The  effect  was,  at  first,  highly  favorable^;  but, 
remaining  in  the  country  till  the  early  part  of  autumn, 
she  was  seized  with  a  bilious  remittent  fever.  Two  years 
subsequent  to  this,  when  writing  on  the  effects  of  travel- 
ing, Dr.  Drake  said:* — "  I  am  convinced  that  those  who 
travel  are  much  more  subject  to  autumnal  fever  than 
those  who  remain  in  one  place.  I  could  cite  many  mel- 
ancholy cases  in  support  of  this  assertion,  but  will  refer 
to  one  only.  An  emigrant  lady  resided  ten  years  in  the 
Western  country,  without  traveling  in  autumn,  and 
without  an  attack  of  fever.  She  then  undertook  a  jour- 
ney in  September,  and  was  soon  arrested  by  a  severe 
bilious  fever.  Eight  years  afterwards,  while  traveling  a 
second  time,  in  August,  she  experienced  a  second  attack ; 

*  Western  Medical  and  Physical  Journal,— -Vol.  1,  No.  6. 


DEATH  OP  MRS.  DRAKE.  179 

and  two  years  subsequently,  soon  after  a  third  journey, 
she  was  invaded  a  third  time  by  the  same  malady,  and 
became  its  victim." 

This  lady  was  Mrs.  Drake.  She  had  just  got  back  to 
Cincinnati  from  Mayslick,  by  which  they  had  journeyed 
from  Lexington,  when  she  was  seized  with  the  autumnal 
fever  of  the  country.  The  doctor  soon  perceived  her 
danger,  and  filled  with  intense  alarm,  applied  to  every 
remedy  which  his  knowledge  as  a  physician  or  husband 
could  suggest.  He  knew  that  quinine  and  calomel  were 
the  great  remedies.  He  knew  also  that  they  were  often 
adulterated,  and  he  searched  every  apothecaries'  shop 
to  get  them  pure.  He  consulted  his  brother  physicians, 
he  applied  all  the  art  of  nursing,  and  all  the  means  with 
which  he  had  before  succeeded,  but  in  vain.  He  lost  a 
wife,  who  was  loved  as  few  can  be  loved,  and  was  now 
mourned  with  a  grief  with  which  few  are  lamented. 

Dr.  Drake  had  too  much  of  both  reason  and  fortitude 
to  remit  any  of  his  duties,  or  his  labors,  on  account  of  a 
private  calamity,  however  great.  But  henceforward,  a 
memory  of  sorrow  became  part  of  his  being,  and  seemed 
to  flit  quietly,  but  not  unhappily,  along  the  current  of  his 
life.  Soon  after  Mrs.  Drake's  death,  he  was  struck  with 
the  unadorned,  and  desolate  look  of  the  grave-yard,  that 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  which  she  was  laid.  He 
immediately  raised  a  small  subscription,  among  the 
friends  of  those  buried  there,  and,  partly  with  his  own 
hands,  succeeded  in  planting  and  rearing  the  shade  trees, 
which  now  give  that  ground  its  only  pleasant  look. 

Foreseeing,  some  years  since,  the  barbarous  desecration 
of  that  place,  now  about  to  be  made,  he  had  the  melan- 
choly satisfaction  of  removing  his  dead  to  their  cheerful, 
and  for  a  time,  safe  repose  in  Spring  Grove. 


180  LIFE  OF  DE.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

The  anniversary  of  his  wife's  death,  was  one  not  only 
remembered  by  him,  but  remembered  by  some  act  which 
was  a  token  of  a  continuing  sorrow.  Several  of  his 
letters  to  his  old  friend,  Mrs.  Mansfield,  who  was  scarcely 
less  a  mourner  than  himself,  were  dated  on  this  day,  and 
recalled,  in  eloquent  terms,  the  character  and  excellence 
of  her  whom  they  had  lost.  Frequently  he  commem- 
orated the  day  by  a  Funeral  Hymn,  a  sort  of  versi- 
fication for  which  he  had  no  small  taste  and  talent. 

From  these  I  select  the  following  as  not  unworthy  of 
publication,  and  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  occasion.  It 
was  written  for  October,  1831,  which  was  the  sixth  anni- 
versary of  his  wife's  funeral :  — 


Ye  clouds  that  veil  the  setting  sun, 

Dye  not  your  robes  in  red  ; 
Thou  chaste  and  beauteous  rising  moon, 

Thy  mildest  radiance  shed. 

II. 

Ye  stars  that  gem  the  vault  of  Heav'n, 

Shine  mellow  as  ye  pass  ; 
Ye  falling  dews  of  early  ev'n, 

.Rest  balmy  on  this  grass. 

III. 

Ye  fitful  zephyrs  as  ye  rise, 

And  win  your  way  along, 
Breathe  softly  out  your  deepest  sighs, 

And  wail  your  gloomiest  song. 

IV. 

Thou  lonely  widowed  bird  of  night, 

As  on  this  sacred  stone, 
Thou  mayest  in  wandering  chance  to  light, 

Pour  forth  thy  saddest  moan.     - 


FUNERAL  HYMN.  181 

V. 

Ye  giddy  throng  who  laugh  and  stray,* 

Where  notes  of  sorrow  sound, 
And  mock  the  funeral  vesper  lay — 

T  ead  not  this  holy  ground. 

VI. 

For  here  my  sainted  Harriet  lies, 

I  saw  her  hallo w'd  form 
Laid  deep  below,  no  more  to  rise, 

Before  the  judgment  morn. 

*This  grave-yard,  like  many  others,  seems  to  have  been  the 
uliar  resort  of  both  the  heartless  and  the  gay,  who  resort  to  the 
monuments  of  the  dead  for  amusement  and  curiosity.  This  is  the 
best  justification  the  City  Council  of  Cincinnati  can  have  for  wan- 
tonly converting  the  home  of  the  dead  into  a  park  for  the  living. 

In  the  beautiful  cemetery  of  Spring  Grove  at  least  one  generation 
of  the  dead  may  rest  in  peace.  More  than  that  can  hardly  be  ex- 
pected, when  we  reflect  that,  in  twenty  years  past,  two  successive 
grave-yards  of  the  pioneers  have  been  desecrated,  broken  up,  and 
built  on ! 


aM'V.-sf  .  .:- 
CHAPTER  YIII, 

Dr.  Drake  returns  to  Lexington — Condition  of  the  School— His 
Practice — Resigns — Establishes  the  Western  Journal  of  Medical 
Sciences — History  of  Medical  Journals — Establishes  the  Eye 
Infirmary — Announces  his  Work  on  the  Diseases  of  the  Interioi 
Valley — Views  of  Medical  Education — Review  of  the  "People's 
Doctors" — Lectures  on  Temperance — Incidents — Medical  Jurispru 
dence — Case  of  John  Birdsall. 

OPPRESSED  with  grief  for  a  loss  which  he  never  ceased 
to  feel  and  lament,  Dr.  Drake  did  not  forget  that  he  had 
duties  to  perform,  and  children  to  live  for.  Hencefor- 
ward they  were  the  objects  of  his  ceaseless  care,  and 
came  gradually  to  take  that  place  in  his  mind  which 
had  belonged  to  their  mother.  In  this,  both  the  energy 
and  the  tenderness  of  his  nature  were  made  manifest 
While  he  bent  over  the  dead  with  lamentations,  he 
watched  the  living  with  anxious  solicitude,  and  returned 
to  his  labors  with  all  the  industry  of  youth. 

When  the  foliage  had  fallen,  and  the  close  of  the  year 
seemed  to  come,  like  the  grave,  to  take  life  from  the 
scenes  that  surrounded  him,  he  returned  to  Lexington 
with  his  children,  and  renewed  his  duties  in  the  medical 
school.  Transylvania  medical  school  was  now  at  the 
height  of  its  glory.  Its  accomplished  professors  had 
made  themselves  a  name.  Dudley,  and  Brown,  and 
Caldwell,  and  Drake,  had  become  celebrities  in  the 
medical  profession.  The  class  of  the  year  1825-26 
numbered  two  hundred  and  eighty-one — a  number 
much  larger  than  had  ever  been  assembled,  at  one  time, 
in  the  West.  In  fact,  it  was  a  larger  number  than 
182 


-    .. 

RESIGNS   HIS   PROFESSORSHIP.  183 

Transylvania  University  has  ever  had,  either  before  or 
since.  Notwithstanding  this,  and  that  all  his  associations 
at  Lexington  were  friendly  and  pleasant,  he  concluded 
to  resign  his  professorship  and  return  permanently  to 
Cincinnati.  This  seemed  to  be  against  his  personal 
interest ;  for  not  only  did  the  professorship  yield  a  large 
salary,  but  his  occasional  practice  was  a  lucrative  one. 
He  was  called,  in  consultation,  to  visit  patients,  in 
directions,  who  could  be  conveniently  reached  from 
Lexington  and  Cincinnati.  Among  them  were  some  of 
the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  country.  In  the 
years  1825  and  1826,  he  had  visited  professionally 
Judge  Todd,  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court, 
Governor  Foindexter,  Mr.  Clay,  and  many  others  of 
note.  In  going  to  Cincinnati  his  practice  must  necessa- 
rily be  local,  and  he  would  lose  the  emoluments  of  the 
professorship.  All  this  he  duly  considered,  but  his  feel- 
ings, and,  as  he  thought,  the  ultimate  interests  of  his 
family  were  in  favor  of  the  change.  Accordingly,  on 
the  19th  of  March,  1826,  he  resigned  his  post  at 
Lexington.  He  entered  the  school  when  it  had  one 
hundred  and  thirty-eight  pupils,  and  left  it  with  two 
hundred  and  eighty-one.  In  the  following  session  it 
had  but  one  hundred  and  ninety.  What  influence  his 
reputation  and  ability  had,  in  producing  these  results, 
cannot  be  precisely  known ;  but  in  the  absence  of  other 
reasons  for  such  marked  fluctuations,  it  may  safely  be 
inferred  that  his  presence  and  character  gave  no  small 
strength  and  renown  to  the  then  celebrated  school  at 
Lexington. 

In  returning  to  Cincinnati,  new  directions  must  be 
given  to  the  current  of  life.  He  must  have  business ; 
he  must  have  new  avenues  of  employment,  and,  above 


*•     '  .      • 

184:  LIFE   OF  DK.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

all,  he  must  have  new  objects  of  interest  and  ambition. 
His  active  intellect  soon  contrived  these,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  he  had  almost  as  many  avocations  as  he  had 
years  before,  when  he  was  at  once  merchant,  physician, 
author,  writer,  and  lecturer.  His  first  business  was,  of 
course,  the  practice  of  medicine,  since  upon  that  must 
be  his  main  dependence  for  support.  Time  and  absence 
had  softened  the  bitterness  of  controversy.  His  princi- 
pal opponents  professionally  were  without  the  means, 
if  not  the  purpose,  of  hostility.  They  had  driven  him 
from  the  Medical  College  of  Ohio,  but  they  had  sub- 
stituted nothing  in  his  place.  They  had  neither  raised 
themselves  nor  benefited  the  college,  while  the  injurious 
influences  of  their  course  upon  the  institution  and  the 
city  were  most  manifest.  The  public  were  favorably 
inclined,  and  his  personal  friends — quite  a  numerous 
body — were  warmly  attached  to  him. 

Under  these  circumstances,  he  quietly  resumed  his 
place  as  a  practicing  physician,  seeking  only  to  cultivate 
his  profession,  and  willing,  while  successful  there,  to 
leave  others  to  the  pursuit  of  their  own  schemes.  In  the 
meanwhile  to  write  and  to  teach,  in  some  way,  was  a 
necessity  of  his  nature,  and  one  of  his  first  enterprises 
was  to  become  the  editor  of  a  medical  journal.  As  he 
was  in  this,  as  in  many  other  things,  a  pioneer,  being 
the  first  to  establish  a  medical  journal  in  the  interior 
valley  of  the  United  States,  I  shall  here  record  his  own 
history  of  that  enterprise. 

"In  the  year  1818-19,"*  says  Dr.  Drake,  "I  issued 
proposals  for  a  journal,  and  obtained  between  two  and 


*  Second  Discourse  before  the  Medical  Library  Association  of 
Cincinnati,  pp.  77,  78. 


MEDICAL   JOURNALS.  185 

three  hundred  subscribers;  but  other  duties  interfered 
with  my  entering  on  its  publication.  Immediately  after 
resigning  the  professorship  of  surgery  in  the  Medical 
College  of  Ohio,  my  gifted,  indefatigable,  and  lamented 
friend,  the  late  DR.  JOHN  D.  GODMAN,  determined  on  a 
similar  enterprise,  and  in  March,  1822,  issued  the  first 
number  of  the  Western  Quarterly  Reporter,  of  which 
Mr.  John  F.  Foote,  then  a  bookseller  and  cultivator  of 
science,  was,  at  his  own  risk,  the  publisher.  Dr.  God- 
man,  at  the  end  of  a  year,  returned  to  the  East,  and, 
with  the  sixth  number,  the  work  was  discontinued. 
Three  years  afterwards,  in  the  spring  of  1826,  DR.  GUY 
W.  WRIGHT  and  DR.  JAMES  M.  MASON,  Western  gradu- 
ates, commenced  a  semi-monthly,  under  the  title  of  the 
Ohio  Medical  Eepository.  At  the  end  of  the  first 
volume,  I  became  connected  with  it,  in  place  of  Dr. 
Mason.  The  title  was  changed  to  the  Western  Medical 
and  Physical  Journal,  and  it  was  published  monthly. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  volume,  it  came  into  my  exclu- 
sive proprietory  and  editorial  charge,  and  was  continued 
under  the  title  of  the  Western  Journal  of  the  Medical 
and  Physical  Sciences,  with  the  motto,  at  that  time  not 
inappropriate,  of  u E Sylvis  nuncius"  My  first  edito- 
rial adjunct  was  DR.  JAMES  C.  FINLEY;  the  next,  DR. 
WILLIAM  WOOD  ;  then  DRS.  GROSS  and  HARRISON.  After 
the  dissolution  of  the  medical  department  of  Cincinnati 
College,  in  1839,  it  was  transferred  to  Louisville,  on  my 
appointment  there,  and  its  subscription  was  united  with 
that  of  the  Louisville  Journal  of  Medicine  and  Sur- 
gery, begun  by  Professors  Miller,  and  Yandell,  and  Dr. 
Thomas  H.  Bell,  but  suspended  after  the  second  number. 
The  title  was  now  slightly  modified,  and  from  a  quar- 
terly it  was  again  made  monthly.  Professor  Yandell 

16 


186  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

* 

•united  with  me  in  the  editorial  department,  and  soon 
after  Dr.  Thomas  W.  Colescott  was  added.  In  1849 
my  connection  with  it  was  dissolved,  and  also  that  of 
Dr.  Colescott,  since  which  it  has  been  continued  by  Pro- 
fessor Yandell  and  Dr.  Bell.  Thus  the  second  publica- 
tion of  Cincinnati  and  the  West  has  been  successful,  so 
far  as  this,  that,  under  different  names  and  with  one 
change  of  place,  it  has  lived  through  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, during  twenty-one  years  of  which  period  it  was 
my  very  equivocal  good  fortune  to  have  a  connection 
with  it  as  an  editor,  and  three  times  as  a  publisher.  As 
it  was,  strictly  speaking,  the  first  established  journal  of 
the  interior  valley,  and  is  now  by  far  the  oldest,  this 
extended  notice  will  not  be  regarded  as  out  of  place." 

Dr.  Drake  appeared  as  principal  editor  of  the  Medical 
and  Physical  Journal  in  April,  1827.  In  the  "  notices" 
at  the  close  of  that  number,  he  announces  his  determina- 
tion to  go  on  with  the  great  work  on  the  Diseases  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  of  which  the  first  part  only  was  pub- 
lished at  his  death.  Concerning  this  he  had  several 
years  before  issued  a  circular  to  the  physicians  of  the 
West,  requesting  from  them  "such  facts  and  observa- 
tions as  would  aid  him  in  the  composition  of  a  history 
of  the  diseases  which  occur  between  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
and  the  Lakes."  He  now  says  that  "  the  work  which 
he  then  announced  has  not  been  abandoned,  though  de- 
ferred in  consequence  of  various  official  duties ;  but, 
that  having  divested  himself  of  these,  he  hopes,  at  no 
distant  time,  to  engage  seriously  in  the  undertaking." 

This  work  which  had  been  thus  twice  publicly  an- 
nounced, and  which,  next  to  the  foundation  of  a  great 
medical  school  in  Cincinnati,  was  the  leading  object  of 
his  ambition,  he  was  yet  unable  seriously  to  undertake 


THE   EYE   INFIRMARY.  187 

for  many  years  after  this,  and  more  than  thirty  years 
elapsed  from  the  commencement  to  the  completion  of 
the  first  volume !  Such  are  the  delays  and  the  draw- 
backs on  the  enterprises  of  literary  men,  who,  without 
any  other  fortune  than  their  profession,  are  obliged  to 
give  up  to  daily  cares  and  daily  wants  the  time  and  the 
labor  with  which  they  had  hoped  to  produce  for  mankind 
the  results  of  profound  thought,  or  the  fruits  of  study 
and  observation.  To  the  men  of  imagination  only,  of 
whom  the  poet  says, 

"  Ten  thousand  glorious  systems  would  he  build, 
Ten  thousand  bright  ideas  filled  his  mind/' 

the  loss  of  these  immature  systems  is  but  the  loss  of  a 
vision,  which  imagination  soon  replaces  with  another. 
But  to  the  man  of  science  it  is  another  thing.  It  is  the 
untimely  death  of  offsprings,  which  have  already  been 
formed  intellectually  into  being,  and  need  only  the 
growth  which  time  and  culture  confer.  Besides  this 
work  Dr.  Drake  had  the  intention  to  prepare,  and  some 
of  the  materials  for  it,  a  work  on  the  history  of  the  West, 
a  plan  which  was  entirely  lost,  as  was  part  of  that  which 
he  left  unfinished,  on  the  diseases  of  the  interior. 

Another  plan  which  he  formed,  and  now  carried  into 
•execution,  was  the  establisment  of  an  Eye  Infirmary  in 
Cincinnati.  In  the  Medical  and  Physical  Journal  for 
November,  1827,  he  announces  the  "  Cincinnati  Eye 
Infirmary,"  thus:  "This  establishment,  announced  by 
the  projector  in  our  May  number,  has  been  open  for 
patients  since  the  first  of  July.  Upwards  of  one  hun- 
dred respectable  citizens  have  enrolled  themselves  as 
annual  contributors  to  the  charity  fund.  To  be  entered 
as  a  charity  patient,  the  applicant  must  apply  to  some 
one  of  the  visitors,  and  adduce  to  him  satisfactory 


188  LIFE   OF  DR.    DANIEL   DKAKE. 

evidence  of  being  indigent.  The  visitors  are  'Keverend 
Joshua  L.  Wilson,  President;  Mr.  Davis  B.  Lawler, 
Secretary ;  Mr.  William  M.  Walker,  Treasurer ;  Eev. 
William  Burke,  Mr.  Martin  Baum,  Mr.  Peyton  Symmes, 
and  Mr.  John  P.  Foote.'  The  charity  patients  are  at- 
tended gratuitously  by  Dr.  Drake,  the  physician  and 
operative  surgeon  of  the  Infirmary." 

This  institution  he  continued,  and  operated  on  a  large 
number  of  patients,  till  the  pressure  of  other  duties  com- 
pelled him  to  abandon  it.  Since  then  he  has  been  suc- 
ceeded by  others,  who  devote  themselves  to  the  special 
diseases  of  the  eye. 

Thus  we  find  that  in  less  than  a  year  after  leaving 
Lexington,  Dr.  Drake  had  already  commenced  the 
various  occupations  of  physician,  surgeon,  author,  and 
journalist.  Nor  did  he  pause  for  a  moment  in  the  zeal- 
ous and  energetic  pursuit  of  all  the  public  objects  and, 
benevolent  schemes,  which  so  frequently  occupy  the 
public  mind,  and  engrossed  so  much  of  his  own  atten- 
tion. About  this  time  the  subject  of  temperance 
awakened  general  interest.  Rechabites  and  individual 
preachers  of  temperance  there  had  been  in  all  ages  of  the 
world  ;  but  their  number  was  few  in  comparison  with 
the  great  multitude  of  those  who  drank  artificial  stimu- 
lants to  excess,  and  crowded  the  highways  with  drunk- 
enness. There  was  yet  wanting  the  strength  of  great 
public  associations,  which,  formed  from  the  body  of  the 
people,  would  carry  through  them  the  joint  influence  of 
example,  of  sympathy,  and  of  mutual  support.  In  the 
Atlantic  States,  Dr.  Beecher,  in  lectures  at  Litchfield, 
(Connecticut,)  afterwards  extensively  published,  had 
excited  a  deep  feeling  on  the  subject  of  temperance. 
These  lectures  were  delivered  in  1826,  and  in  the  same 


THE  TEMPERANCE  MOVEMENT.  189 

year  was  formed  the  "  American  Temperance  Society." 
In  six  years  more  no  less  than  six  thousand  societies  were 
formed,  containing  a  million  of  members.  Great  effect 
was  for  a  time  produced  in  the  reduced  use  of  distilled 
spirits,  and  especially,  among  the  refined  and  educated 
classes.  The  custom  of  offering  liquor  on  all  occasions 
was  broken  up,  so  far  that  it  was  no  longer  deemed  im- 
perative ;  and  the  fashion  of  high  life  withdrew  its 
countenance  from  the  grosser  forms  of  intemperance. 

In  this  movement  Dr.  Drake  took  great  interest.  He 
was  not  only  strictly  temperate  himself,  but  even  absti- 
nent, while  in  his  observations  upon  society  around  him, 
he  found  ample  reasons  to  see  and  lament  the  devasta- 
tions which  intemperance  had  caused.  He  entered  this 
new  career  of  benevolence  with  great  zeal,  nor  ever 
failed,  to  the  end  of  his  life,  in  giving  whatever  of 
time  or  talent  he  had  to  this  noble  means  of  human 
regeneration. 

It  was  in  September,  1827,  that  a  public  meeting  of 
citizens  was  called  to  meet  at  the  Court-house,  and  con- 
sider the  subject  of  temperance.  The  meeting  was  held 
at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and,  for  those  days, 
was  really  large  and  respectable.  Many  old  citizens 
were  present,  who  were  quite  familiar  with  old  whisky, 
and  upon  whose  cheeks  it  blossomed  forth  in  purple  dyes. 
To  these,  and  indeed  to  the  great  body  of  people  in  the 
West,  a  temperance  speech  was  a  new  idea.  Dr.  Drake 
was  the  speaker,  and  they  listened  to  him  with  respect- 
ful attention,  and  were  by  no  means  opposed  to  the 
object.  The  speech,  however,  was  long.  The  doctor 
had  arrayed  a  formidable  column  of  facts.  The  day  was 
hot,  and  after  he  had  spoken  about  an  hour  without  ap- 
parently approaching  the  end,  some  one,  out  of  regard 


190  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

0t;.< 

for  the  doctor's  strength,  or  by  the  force  of  habit,  cried  out : 
u  Let  us  adjourn  a  while  and  take  a  drink !"  The  meet- 
ing did  adjourn,  and  McFarland's  tavern  being  near 
by,  the  old  soakers  refreshed  themselves  with  "  old  rye." 
The  meeting  again  assembled,  the  doctor  finished  his 
speech,  and  all  went  off  well.  Soon  after  the  temper- 
ance societies  began  to  be  formed,  and  the  excitement 
then  begun  has  continued  to  this  day. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  first  temperance 
societies  were  formed  on  the  principle  of  only  excluding 
what  are  called  "  spirituous  liquors ;"  such  as  whisky, 
gin,  brandy,  &c.  This  is  the  basis*  of  our  present  anti- 
liquor  statutes  in  Ohio,  and  seems  to  be  as  far  as,  in  the 
present  state  of  public  opinion,  it  is  practicable  to  enforce 
such  a  law.  If  even  this  can  be  enforced,  it  will,  in  the 
language  of  military  bulletins,  be  a  "  glorious  victory" 
over  popular  prejudice.  It  is  the  practical  result  of  only 
thirty  years  of  moral  agitation.  It  is  the  historical  proof 
that  we  need  not  despair  in  any  good  work  which  can 
be  commended  to  human  reason.  If  thirty  years,  or 
even  double  that,  of  moral  agitation  and  earnest  effort 
can  accomplish  any  practical  reform,  not  many  ages  will 
elapse  before  mankind  will  have  emerged  from  their  de- 
gradation, and  present  the  beautiful  aspect  of  a  perfect 
society. 

Neither  Dr.  Drake,  nor  many  other  most  intelligent 
temperance  reformers,  especially  among  physicians,  ever 
believed  it  possible,  or  desirable,  totally  to  destroy  the 
appetite  for  stimulus,  which  seems  natural  to  the  human 
constitution.  This  appetite  is  inherent,  and  exists,  doubt- 
less, for  salutary  purposes.  But  the  great  end  of  the  ten> 
perance  reformation  is  to  direct  it  from  destructive  to  inno- 
cent uses.  Every  species  of  animal  food,  and  every  fruit 


MEDICAL  JUKISPKTJDENCE.  191 

having  acid  capable  of  fermentation,  carries  with  it  a 
stimulus  to  either  the  blood  or  the  nerves  of  the  human 
system.  Hence,  the  appetite  for  stimulants  and  the  means 
of  stimulation  are  universal.  The  practical  experience 
of  human  life,  however,  proves  beyond  a  doubt,  that  it  is 
only  in  certain  forms  of  distilled,  or  fermented  liquors, 
that  stimulation  becomes  injurious.  The  great  and  fatal 
part  of  the  injury  lies  in  the  destruction  or  derangement 
of  the  reason,  without  which  man  is  no  longer  human. 
Against  this  injury,  as  it  exists  in  the  form  of  spirituous 
liquors,  and  the  seller  of  these  liquors,  the  temperance 
reformer  does,  and  must  ever,  direct  all  the  energies  of 
moral  and  social  agitation.  On  this  subject  Dr.  Drake 
never  ceased  to  feel  a  lively  sensibility ;  nor  ever  flagged 
in  his  zeal,  or  his  labors,  for  the  promotion  of  temperance. 
He  was  many  times  called  to  address  the  public  on  this 
subject,  and  twenty  years  after  his  lecture,  at  the  Court- 
house, in  Cincinnati,  formed  a  Total  Abstinence  Society 
among  the  students  of  his  medical  class  at  Louisville. 

From  1827  to  1830,  Dr.  Drake  remained  at  Cincinnati, 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  in  editing  his 
medical  journal,  in  attendance  upon  the  Eye  Infirmary, 
and  mingling  in  all  the  benevolent  enterprises  of  the  day. 
In  July,  1828,  he  enlarged  the  "  Journal  of  Medical  and 
Physical  Sciences,"  from  a  monthly  to  a  quarterly,  and 
greatly  improved  it  in  every  respect.  The  title  page  was 
ornamented  with  a  branch  and  flower  of  the  dogwood, 
inscribed  with  the  motto, — "  E sylvis  nuncius"  In  this 
journal  he  published  some  valuable  essays.  In  one  of 
these  he  gave  his  views  of  medical  education,  and  were 
a  student  strictly  to  follow  it,  he  would  have  nearly  as 
much  to  do  as  the  student  of  oratory,  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  Cicero,  who  supposed  that  oratory  included  all 


192  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

other  arts  and  sciences.  Dr.  Drake's  views  of  medical 
education  were  quite  exalted,  and  when  this  view  of  what 
it  should  be,  is  contrasted  with  what  it  is^  it  gives  us  a 
melancholy  view  of  the  defects  and  degradation  of  the 
profession.  Of  those  who  receive  medical  degrees,  but 
few  have  anything  more  than  an  outline  knowledge  of 
the  human  system,  or  of  the  materials  and  appliances 
which  may  be  brought  to  its  aid ;  while  of  general  knowl- 
edge they  have  but  little.  Supposing  these,  however, 
to  be  all  they  ought  to  be,  how  many  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  are  literally  practicing  upon  society, 
with  an  ignorance  which  is  profound,  and  a  quackery 
which  is  shameless  !  The  medical  colleges  educate  but 
a  small  part,  or  rather  it  is  more  proper  to  say  they  only 
Jielp  to  educate  a  part,  of  that  great  number  who  seek 
the  medical  profession.  The  great  body  of  students 
receive  most  of  their  instruction,  either  by  precept  or 
example,  in  the  offices  of  practicing  physicians.  But  of 
this  education,  Dr.  Drake  correctly  says,  there  is  no  sys- 
tem in  the  United  States  whatever.  He  gives,  in  his 
essay,  certain  rules  as  to  what  ought  to  be  done  in  this 
sort  of  instruction.  The  first  is,  that  the  preceptor,  who 
is  selected  to  teach,  should  be  a  man  of  sound  and  dis- 
criminating judgment ;  learned,  at  least,  in  his  profes- 
sion ;  devoted  to  that  profession  ;  conscientious  in  the 
performance  of  his  duties  ;  a  man  of  business,  and  a  man 
of  sound  morals — not  intemperate,  a  gambler,  or  promise 
breaker.  This  enumeration  of  the  qualifications  of  a 
preceptor,  though  no  more  than  what  ought  certainly  to 
be  required,  would  exclude  a  large  number  of  the  actual 
preceptors  of  medicine. 

The  second  rule  he  lays  down  is,  that  the  pupils  should 


! 


HIS   VIEWS   OF   MEDICAL  EDUCATION.  193 

not  commence  too  soon ;  eighteen  is  young  enough,  he 
says,  to  commence  the  study  of  medicine ;  and  yet  we 
have  seen  he  commenced  himself  at  fifteen,  and  was  emi- 
nently successful.  The  rule,  however,  is  right,  for  the 
want  of  judgment  in  young  practitioners  has  occasioned 
the  loss  of  many  a  life. 

The  third  rule  is,  that  the  length  of  time  required  for 
study  should  not  be  too  short.  Four  years,  he  thinks  in- 
dispensable ;  but  who  does  not  know  that  not  half  that 
time  is  actually  employed  in  study  by  the  medical  stu- 
dents of  this  country  ?  On  this  point,  he  thus  remarks : — 

"Nothing  is  more  common  than  for  them  to  enter  on 
the  practice  at  the  end  of  two  years,  or  even  eighteen 
months,  and  three  years  are  thought  to  be  a  protracted 
and  tiresome  pupilage.  But  I  do  not  hesitate  to  assert 
that  even  that  time  is  too  short,  and  that  four  years 
should  be  considered  as  indispensable.  Of  the  various 
causes  which  have  retarded  the  advancement  of  the 
profession  in  this  country,  and  inflicted  upon  it  such 
multitudes  of  medical  practitioners,  who  leave  behind 
them  no  single  monument  of  skill  or  science,  this  is  one 
of  the  most  operative  and  universal.  The  blame  rests 
in  part  on  our  national  impatience  to  engage  in  prac- 
tical exertions,  but  still  more  on  the  custom  which  pre- 
vails among  fathers  who  are  indigent,  or  but  little  above 
that  condition,  of  devoting  their  sons  to  the  profession. 
The  term  of  their  pupilage  is  thus  determined,  not  by 
the  sciences  which  they  ought  to  study,  but  by  their 
means  of  support." 

Fourthly,  the  doctor  says:  "Every  student  should 
spend  a  part  of  his  pupilage  among  the  officinal  sub- 
stances, that  are  the  agents  with  which  future  objects 

17 


194  LIFE   OF   DK.    DANIEL   DRAKE: 

are  to  be  accomplished.  He  should  learn  their  sensible 
qualities  by  observation,  and  become  familiar  with  all 
the  compounds  and  pharmaceutic  processes  of  the  shop." 
But  this,  he  says,  is  only  necessary  while  prosecuting 
the  subjects  of  chemistry  and  pharmacy.  While  study- 
ing anatomy,  physiology,  pathology,  and  botany,  the 
dissecting-room,  his  chamber,  and  the  fields,  are  his 
proper  places  of  study. 

Dr.  Drake  gives  a  rule  for  the  portion  of  each  day 
which  students  may  devote  to  study,  which  exemplifies 
very  well  his  own  industrious  habits,  but  which,  I  may 
safely  say,  the  majority  of  human  beings  cannot  endure 
without  great  injury  to  their  physical  constitution.  He 
says:  "A  safe  average  would  be  twelve  hours.  This 
would  give  seven  for  sleep,  and  few  young  persons  can 
do  with  less,  two  for  meals,  arid  three  for  exercise,  labor, 
and  society." 

The  hours  given  to  amusement  and  society,  he  thinks, 
are,  with  most  medical  students,  thrown  away,  or  worse, 
spent  in  ruinous  dissipation. 

"To  answer  the  end  for  which  they  are  set  apart,"  he 
says,  "they  should  be  spent  in  active  exertion  in  the 
open  air,  which  will  not  only  prepare  the  mind  for  new 
labors,  but  ward  off  dyspepsia,  palpitation,  hypocondria- 
cism,  and  red  eyes,  and  prevent  that  debility  of  frame, 
so  falsely  regarded  as  the  necessary  effect  of  hard  study, 
when  it  results  from  an  insufficient  amount  of  hard  labor." 

Shall  a  student  of  medicine  pursue  his  studies  on 
Sunday  ?  Dr.  Drake  was  not  at  this  time  a  member  of 
any  church,  and  he  answers  this  question  simply  as  a 
physician,  without  regard  to  the  religious  aspect  of  the 
case.  "  I  shall  answer  this  question,"  he  says,  "  not  as  a 


H  HIS  VIEWS   OF  MEDICAL  EDUCATION.  195 

divine,  but  a  physician  and  teacher.  I  would  say,  then, 
that  he  should  not,  but  the  reverse.  As  a  general  rule  his 
progress  will  be  greater  if  he  suspend  than  continue  his 
studies  through  the  Sabbath.  The  mind,  no  less  than 
the  body,  requires  not  mere  moments  of  relaxation,  but 
hours  of  actual  repose,  at  least  from  the  particular  labors 
in  which  it  is  engaged."  This  confirms  what  has  been 
remarked  by  officers  in  the  military  and  naval  service, 
that  men  will  do  more  labor  and  service  when  they 
rest  the  seventh  day,  than  when  they  work  continuously, 
without  an  interval. 

Fifthly.  What  other  studies  than  medicine  shall  occu- 
py the  student's  mind  ?  Dr.  Drake's  views  of  the  studies 
requisite  to  a  physician  seem  to  have  been  not  unlike 
what  Cicero  required  of  an  orator,  that  he  should  embrace 
the  whole  range  of  arts  and  sciences.  He  says :  "  That  a 
majority  of  our  students  of  medicine,  especially  from  the 
West,  enter  upon  their  pupilage  with  a  most  incompe- 
tent education.  For  all  such  there  is  no  alternative  but 
to  cultivate  the  elements  of  literature  and  science  during 
their  medical  pupilage,  or  to  remain  superficial  scholars 
during  their  lives.  I  regret  to  say  the  majority  choose  the 
latter."  Those  who  have  been  regularly  educated,  he 
also  thinks  must  review  and  continue  their  studies.  The 
practical  branches  of  literature  and  science,  on  which  the 
student  of  medicine  should  devote  a  portion  of  his  time, 
are : — 

First.  English  Grammar  and  the  art  of  composition, 
without  which  no  young  man  need  hope  to  become  a 
tolerable  writer. 

Second.  Physical  Geography,  embracing  the  leading 
facts  in  Meteorology,  which  constitutes  the  foundation  for 


196  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

the  study  of  the  physical  condition  and  diseases  of  man  in 
the  various  countries  and  climates  of  the  earth.* 

Third.  The  Outlines  of  History— that  he  may  be 
able  to  trace  the  progress  of  his  profession,  and  understand 
the  influence  of  moral  causes. 

Fourth.  The  elements  of  Mathematics,  and  Natural 
Philosophy,  for  they  have  many  points  of  illustrative 
association  with  medicine. 

Fifth.  The  French  language;  for  the  subjects  of 
Anatomy,  Physiology,  and  Pathology  have  been  culti- 
vated with  great  success  by  the  French  physicians,  and 
but  a  small  part  of  their  works  have  been  translated. 

Sixth.  The  Latin  and  Greek  languages  are,  perhaps, 
the  most  necessary  of  any  of  the  branches  named  to  the 
character  of  a  scholar. 

Having  added  these  to  his  elementary  education,  the 
student  is  to  proceed,  with  strict  study,  and  rigid  indus- 
try, to  the  acquisition  of  his  profession.  In  this  Dr. 
Drake  says,  with  Linnaeus,  that  "  Method  is  the  soul 
of  science,"  a  principle  which  is  greatly  neglected  by  the 
medical  profession.  Of  this  he  says:  "  In  medicine,  or 
in  other  sciences,  that  method  is  best  which  requires  the 
student  to  take  nothing  on  trust,  to  anticipate  no  princi- 
ple or  leading  fact.  The  whole  course  should,  as  far  as 
possible,  be  purely  synthetical." 

The  order  in  which  he  should  proceed  with  his  pro- 
fessional studies,  he  thus  describes: — 

First.  CHEMISTRY,  because  necessary  to  prepare  him 

*  The  advantage  of  this  kind  of  science  Dr.  Drake  fully  realized 
in  the  preparation  of  his  great  work  on  the  Diseases  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley;  a  work  which  shows  more  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
Physical  Geography  and  Meteorology  of  this  country,  than  can  be 
found  in  any  other. 


HIS   VIEWS   OF  MEDICAL  EDUCATION.  197 

for  the  chemical  terms  he  will  meet  with  in  the  study  of 
Physiology. 

Second.  ANATOMY,  which  is  the  general  organization 
of  the  human  body. 

Third.  PHYSIOLOGY,  the  foundation  of  which  are  An- 
atomy, and  Chemistry. 

Fourth.  PATHOLOGY — or  the  morbid  conditions  of  the 
body.  Of  this  he  said  at  that  time,  (1830,)  he  knew  of  no 
distinct  treatise  which  was  suitable  to  the  elementary 
studies  of  the  pupil. 

Fifth.  NOSOLOGY,  or  the  classification  of  diseases — in 
which  the  student,  for  the  first  time,  will  discover  the 
separate  paths  which  diverge  on  the  one  side  to  clinical 
medicine,  and  on  the  other  to  operative  surgery. 

Sixth.  MOKBID  ANATOMY,  which  will  enable  him  to 
connect  his  ideas  of  symptamatology,  or  connect  the 
symptoms  with  their  precise  morbid  condition. 

Seventh.  ^ETIOLOGY,  which  will  lead  him  into  the 
origin,  combination,  and  modes  of  action  of  the  causas 
morborrum. 

Eighth.  Finally  the  PRACTICE  of  medicine ;  its  thera- 
peutics and  operations.  Of  this  he  says:  "  Every  part  of 
a  course  of  medical  studies  abounds  in  difficulties,  and 
calls  for  intense  and  sustained  application ;  but  no  stage 
is  so  trying  to  the  powers  of  the  student  as  that  which 
may  be  called  the  therapeutic.  Hitherto  he  has  occupied 
himself  successively  upon  distinct  sciences,  which  he 
perceived  to  abound  in  connections  favorable  to  their 
union  into  a  system  of  professional  knowledge  ;  and  that 
union  in  reference  to  his  own  mind,  he  is  now  to  affect. 
He  is  faithfully  represented  by  the  commander,  who  hav- 
ing embodied  and  equipped  a  great  variety  of  separate 


198  LIFE   OF  DR.    DANIEL  DRAKE. 

military  corps,  has  at  length  to  consolidate  them  into 
an  army  and  direct  its  active  operations." 

This  brief  analysis  of  his  views  of  medical  education, 
when  pursued  under  a  private  teacher,  is  enough  to 
show  how  elevated  were  his  conceptions  of  professional 
excellence,  and  how  exacting  his  demands  upon  the 
professional  student.  Believing  in  the  high  mission  of 
medicine,  and  the  consequent  dignity  and  responsibili- 
ties of  the  educated  physician,  he  deeply  felt  the  degra- 
dation of  intellect  and  morals  which  is  too  evident  in  a 
large  portion  of  the  profession.  Quackery  is  not  the 
only  enemy  with  which  it  has  to  deal.  A  worse  one  is 
the  reproach  brought  upon  itself  by  neglecting  educa- 
tion, both  general  and  medical.  Dr.  Drake  knew,  by 
constant  intercourse  with  large  bodies  of  both  students 
and  practitioners,  that  general  education  was  much  more 
neglected  among  physicians  than  by  either  of  the  other 
learned  professions.  Seeing  this  most  distinctly,  and  yet 
zealous  for  his  "order,"  he  was  incessant,  as  lecturer, 
teacher,  and  writer,  in  giving  his  testimony,  both  to  the 
value  of  education,  and  to  its  necessity  for  a  physician. 

While  he  was  thus  ardent  in  the  endeavor  to  elevate  the 
intelligence  of  physicians,  he  was  not  unmindful  of  the  pre- 
datory encroachments  made  by  the  great  army  of  quacks. 
For  these  he  had  no  mercy ;  for  with  them  the  quality  of 
ignorance  was  generally  well  mixed  with  that  of  knavery. 
Their  nostrums,  like  Pindar's  razors,  are  made  to  sell. 
If  they  should  happen  to  do  good,  it  is  a  providence,  for 
which  the  patient  is  in  no  way  indebted  to  them.  For  the 
evil  they  do,  the  vender  is  alike  careless  and  indifferent. 

About  this  time,  (1830,)  he  published,  in  the  Western 
Journal,  a  "Review  of  the  Peopled  Doctors"  This 
was  a  review  and  exposure  of  some  of  the  principal 


REVIEW  OF  THE  "PEOPLE'S  DOCTORS."         199 

prescriptions,  remedies,  plans  of  treatment,  and  schemes 
published  by  Dr.  Salmon,  in  "The  Druggist  Shop 
opened  in  1693,"  Thompson's  Botanic  Physician,  and 
Professor  Kefinesque's  Receipts. 

Salmon  appears  to  have  been  a  physician  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  and,  with  all  due  reverence  for  one 
of  the  most  illustrious  names  which  ever  adorned  the 
medical  profession,  I  think  some  of  Sydenham's  pre- 
scriptions might  be  found,  which  have  almost  as  absurd 
a  mixture  of  simple  plants  as  those  of  Dr.  Salmon.* 
Sydenham,  however,  was  without  the  gross  impostures 
of  Salmon,  in  prescribing  lion's  hearts,  dead  men's 
brains,  and  earth-worms.  Sydenham  only  ministered 
to  the  prevalent  custom  and  taste  of  the  age,  in  conceal- 
ing the  real  remedy,  by  a  mixture  of  various  unneces- 
sary and  inefficient  ingredients. 

Dr.  Drake  quotes  one  of  Salmon's  prescriptions, 
which,  in  this  age,  seems  almost  incredible;  for  even 
one  of  the  most  ignorant  quacks  of  the  present  time 
would  not  venture  to  try  such  an  experiment  on  the 
credulity  of  his  patients.  The  prescription  is  this,  viz:f 

'AN  ELIXIR  UNIVERSALL — Not  Particular,  for  any  Distemper. 
Rex  Metallorum  (Gold)  3  ss; 
Powder  of  a  Lyon's  Heart,  3  iy; 
Filings  of  a  Unicorn's  Horn,  3  ss; 
Ashes  of  the  whole  Chameleon,  3  iss; 
Bark  of  the  Witch  Hazel,  two  handsful; 
Earth-worms,  (lumbrici,)  a  score; 
Dead  Man's  Brain,  3  VJ 
Brierwort,  (Sofronacia,V   each  ^  ^ 
Egyptian  Onions,  ) 

Mix  the  ingredients  together,  and  mix  in  my  spirits  universalis." 

*  See  Sydenham's  Prescription  for  Rheumatism, 
t  Western  Journal  of  Medical  and  Physical  Sciences,  Vol.  Ill, 
Ko.3,p.457. 


200  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

This  mixture,  the  learned  Dr.  Salmon  saj7s,  is  lenitive, 
dissolutive,  aperative,  strengthening,  and  glutinative. 
Professor  Rafinesque  proposed  more  astonishing  things 
than  Dr.  Salmon — among  other  things,  to  grow  pearls 
in  the  Ohio  river;  but  the  people  were  unfortunately  so 
much  addicted  to  raising  corn  and  pork,  that  he  literally 
threw  pearls  before  swine,  and  had  the  mortification  to 
see  them  treated  with  indifference.  He  also  proposed 
to  write  the  history  of  this  country,  for  thousands  of 
years  before  either  red  men  or  white  saw  it;  but  his 
learning  was  wrasted,  and  his  name  unhappily  became 
connected  with  that  of  quacks  and  impostors. 

Dr.  Thompson,  of  steam  practice,  was,  perhaps,  a 
greater  man  than  either  Salmon  or  Rafinesque ;  for  he 
was  so  successful  as  to  induce  large  numbers  of  people 
to  believe  that,  to  be  healed,  they  must  be  parboiled, 
and  this  must  be  done  in  consideration  of  money  had 
and  received. 

Since  the  time  when  Dr.  Drake  wrote  the  "People's 
Doctors,"  we  have  had  other  eminent  practitioners  upon 
the  popular  credulity,  whose  moral  daring,  if  not  intel- 
lectual genius,  far  surpasses  that  of  all  their  predeces- 
sors. The  art  of  healing  by  animal  magnetism  and 
spiritual  visions,  has  certainly  outdone,  not  only  Dr. 
Salmon  and  Professor  Rafinesque,  but  even  the  ancient 
witches.  The  old  ladies,  who  withered  the  arms  of 
men,  and  enchanted  the  hearts  of  maidens,  were  far 
inferior  in  power  to  the  modern  damsels,  who,  sitting 
round  a  table,  bring  up  the  spirits  of  the  dead  to  con- 
verse with  the  living !  The  ancient  Roman,  who,  over 
the  entrails  of  a  beast,  prayed  to  Jupiter,  and  consulted 
the  auguries  around  him,  might  reasonably  claim  to  be 


THE  CASE  OF  JOHN  BIBDSALL.         201 

an  enlightened  philosopher,  in  comparison  with  the 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  who,  by  a  few  raps  on  a  board, 
think  they  are  conversing  with  Franklin,  Washington, 
Newton,  and  Napoleon ! 

It  is  said  that  vice  proves  the  existence  of  its  opposite 
virtue,  and  hypocrisy  is  the  evidence  that  what  is  pro- 
fessed somewhere  exists.  The  exhaustless  faith  of  man- 
kind in  imposture,  should  be  an  equally  exhaustless 
spring  of  consolation  to  the  true  physician  of  body  and 
soul.  There  are  remedies  for  the  body;  there  is  a  balm 
for  the  soul.  It  is  these  realities  which  make  the  basis 
of  imposture ;  and  faith  in  these  realities  is  one  of  the 
fragments  which,  surviving  the  fall,  proves  the  perfect 
structure  of  our  original  nature. 

Dr.  Drake  at  this  period,  from  1827  to  1834,  in  which 
he  was  more  specially  and  personally  interested  and  en- 
gaged in  editing  the  Western  Journal  of  Medical  and 
Physical  Sciences,  wrote  numerous  articles,  and  discussed 
many  important  subjects.  Among  these  was  a  question 
in  jurisprudence,  which  always  interested  him.  John 
Birdsall  was  convicted  for  the  murder  of  his  wife.  It 
seems  to  be  clearly  proved  that  he  was  intoxicated,  and 
for  the  time  insane,  when  he  committed  the  act.  He  was 
not  merely  out  of  his  head  by  drinking,  but  it  was  shewn 
that  intoxication  with  him  produced  insanity ;  and  that 
it  was  apt  to  return  at  intervals  of  about  four  months. 
Dr.  Drake  raised  the  question  whether  this  man,  in  such  a 
state,  was  capable  of  committing  a  criminal  act  for  which 
he  should  be  punished  ?  The  day  before  he  was  to  be 
hung,  Dr.  Drake  with  other  gentlemen  entered  his  cell, 
and  asked  him  to  sign  a  petition  which  would  be  pre- 
sented by  others,  for  a  commutation  of  his  sentence,  on 


202  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

the  ground  that  he  was  insane  when  he  committed  the 
act.  Birdsall  refused  with  passion,  saying  it  was  not 
true,  and  his  wife  was  not  dead. 

Dr.  Drake  argued  that  this  was  so  unnatural  and  absurd 
that  he  was  then  either  insane,  or  feigning  insanity.  This 
being  about  the  period,  when,  if  he  drank,  his  fits  of 
insanity  returned,  the  doctor  submitted  to  the  profession 
whether  this  was  not  an  actual  insanity,  or  only  a  feign- 
ing. He  concludes  thus : 

"  To  the  fate  of  Birdsall,  referring  to  himself  only,  I 
have  always  felt  indifferent ;  but  having  been  drawn  offi- 
cially to  the  study  of  his  case,  I  have  endeavored  to  make 
it  of  some  value,  as  a  matter  of  medical  jurisprudence, 
and  am  gratified  to  know  that  what  has  already  been 
published,  has  drawn  attention  to  a  much  neglected  but 
deeply  interesting  subject.      To  the  same   end  I  have 
written  this  sequel,  which  I  hope  will  direct  the  inqui- 
ries of  the  younger  members  of  the  profession  to  the 
subject  of  feigned  insanity,  concerning  which  the  oldest 
physicians  and  jurists  may  often  be  perplexed.     That 
Birdsali  was  a  bad  man,  I  have  as  little  doubt  as  that  he 
killed  his  wife — not  in  a  fit  of  drunkenness — but  in  a 
paroxysm  of  insanity.     But  a  good  man,  under  a  similar 
delusion,  might  have  done  the  same  thing ;  and  hence 
the  importance  of  considering  the  last  dreadful  act  of  his 
social  life  on  its  own  merits,  and  disconnecting  it  from 
his  previous  conduct.     This  should  only  have  been  re- 
ferred to  in  the  absence  of  proof,  that  he  had  committed 
the  murder.     When   society   shall   come  to  punish  a 
special  act  in  one  man  and  excuse  it  in  another,  its  juris- 
prudence will  no  longer  rest  upon  those  principles  of 
justice,  which  all  are  interested  in  maintaining.    The 


THE  CASE   OF  JOHN   BIRDSALL.  203 

law  should  not  be  allowed  to  cast  its  sword  into  the 
balance."  * 

In  tliis  case  Dr.  Drake  was  correct  in  his  general  prin- 
ciples, but  legally  incorrect,  as  to  the  conclusion  to  which 
he  was  disposed  to  come.  He  was  disposed  to  have  a 
man,  under  such  circumstances,  acquitted  of  the  crime, 
and  sent  to  the  Lunatic  Asylum.  But  the  law  concludes 
differently.  The  question  was  not  whether  Birdsall  was 
insane  at  the  time  the  act  was  committed  ;  but  whether 
it  was  not  a  temporary  fit  of  insanity,  voluntarily  caused 
by  himself,  knowing  its  consequences  ?  The  last  was 
the  fact,  and  the  law  never  acquits  a  man  of  crime  com- 
mitted even  indirectly,  which  he  himself  voluntarily 
caused.  The  fact  that  this  voluntary  act  of  evil,  and 
the  actual  crime  committed,  are  separated  by  some  one 
or  more  intermediate  facts  or  agencies,  does  not  excuse 
the  criminal ;  for  he  might  have  avoided  the  crime.  No 
good  man  can  be  placed  in  any  such  situation ;  for, 
knowing  that  he  was  subject  to  insanity  under  certain 
influences,  he  would  avoid  those  influences.  If  insanity, 
thus  voluntarily  caused,  can  excuse  crime,  no  drunkard 
can  ever  be  convicted ;  for  insanity,  from  the  delirium 
of  an  hour  to  that  of  a  lifetime,  is  the  immediate,  direct, 
and  fatal  consequence  of  drunkenness. 

There  is  another  view  of  this  subject,  which  will 
satisfy  both  the  demands  of  the  law  and  the  benevolent 
purpose  of  those  who  agree  with  Dr.  Drake.  This  is, 
to  provide  hospitals  specially  for  drunkards,  and  lunatic 
asylums  for  those  who  are  incurable.  Drunkenness  is, 
in  those  of  confirmed  habits,  a  positive  disease.  This 

*  Western  Journal  of  Medical  and  Physical  Sciences,  Vol.  3,  Wo.  2, 
pp.  221. 


204:  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

has  been  slowly  received,  but  is  now  an  admitted  fact. 
Like  lunacy  in  its  first  formations,  it  is  a  curable  disease. 
Why,  then,  should  not  society  exercise  the  same  benevo- 
lence towards  those  unhappy  beings,  as  it  does  towards 
the  blind,  the  dumb,  or  the  lunatic  ?  Two  public  provi- 
sions would  do  more,  both  to  prevent  and  cure  drunken- 
ness, than  all  the  general  benevolence  of  the  world  has 
yet  been  able  to  accomplish.  These  are  to  provide  a 
HOSPITAL  FOR  DRUNKARDS,  and  to  put  their  PROPERTY  in 
the  hands  of  TRUSTEES. 

Simple  law  against  human  appetite  is  in  vain.  But 
in  this  case  the  whole  array  of  selfishness  and  pride 
would  be  arrayed  against  the  appetite.  And  not  only 
this,  but  its  diseases  would  be  cured,  and  its  victims 
protected.  Perhaps  such  remedies  belong  to  a  higher 
civilization  than  we  possess.  But  I  hope  that  even  this 
generation  will  not  pass  away  till  some  such  measures 
are  adopted,  and  the  community  becomes  like  the  Society 
of  Friends,  a  body  in  which  peace  and  temperance  are 
the  rules  of  life. 


CHAPTER  IX, 

1831 — 1834 — Dr.  Drake  accepts  a  Professorship  in  the  Jefferson 
School,  Philadelphia — Forms  the  plan  of  another  Medical  School 
at  Cincinnati  —  Medical  Department  of  Miami  University  — 
Cholera  —  Dr.  Drake's  Views — Its  appearance  at  Cincinnati- 
Tables  of  the  Cholera  at  Cincinnati — Its  Characteristics — Is  Cholera 
Horbus  Epidemic  ? 

AFTEK  three  years  of  journalism  and  professional 
practice,  Dr.  Drake  found  these  insufficient  to  satisfy 
the  activities  of  his  mind.  He  still  longed  for  what  he 
knew  he  was  specially  qualified — the  office  of  medical 
teacher  in  a  great  school ;  and  he  still  cherished  the  idea 
that  such  an  institution  would  yet  rise  in  Cincinnati. 
In  this  frame  of  mind  he  accepted,  for  a  temporary 
purpose,  a  professorship  in  the  new  school  at  Philadel- 
phia, acting  under  the  charter  of  Jefferson  College.  He 
seems  to  have  accepted  this  place  with  an  undefined 
idea  of  the  result ;  but,  obviously,  with  no  intention  of 
removing  there.  It  served  the  purpose  of  a  post  of 
observation,  whence  he  could  survey  the  ground  and 
choose  his  position.  Arrived  at  Philadelphia,  for  the 
third  time,  he  appeared  before  them  in  the  new  and 
more  eminent  character  of  a  successful  and  distin- 
guished teacher  of  medicine,  where  he  had  once  been 
an  humble  student.  Twenty-five  years  before,  he  came 
there  a  young  man,  raw,  and  almost  unlettered,  with 
only  his  own  energy  for  support,  and  only  his  ambi- 
tion for  guide.  Having  exhausted  his  last  dollar  and 
borrowed  of  friends,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  the 

205 


206  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

University  without  a  degree.  Twelve  years  after,  he  re- 
turned a  successful  practitioner,  but  an  earnest  student, 
to  earn  the  degree  which  he  received ;  and  now,  he 
returned  again  to  take  rank  with  the  greatest  profes- 
sors, and  wear  honors  hardly  won  in  the  several  fields 
of  study  and  conflict.  It  was  honorable  to  him — it  was 
honorable  to  the  West — it  was  a  fine  example  to  ambi- 
tious youth,  that  he  had  been  able  to  pursue  such  a 
career,  and  from  the  dim  backwoods,  by  his  own  exer- 
tions, emerge  and  come  to  the  front  rank  of  enlight- 
ened and  learned  society. 

The  Jefferson  School  had  more  than  a  hundred  pupils, 
and  Dr.  Drake  fell  in  no  way  behind  the  public  expec- 
tation as  teacher  and  lecturer.  He  found,  however, 
that  the  old  University  still  had  the  advantage,  and 
that  in  fully  sustaining  himself,  and  producing  a  lively 
impression  upon  the  public  mind  of  Philadelphia,  he 
had  accomplished  quite  as  much  as  he  could  then  hope 
for.  The  purpose  which  he  had  always  firmly  held, 
and  which  he  had  more  than  half  in  view  when  he 
went  to  Philadelphia,  he  now  set  plainly  forth.  He 
had  already  seen  and  conversed  with  Dr.  Staughton, 
on  his  way  through  Baltimore  and  Washington,  and 
he  now  applied  to  Dr.  McClellan,  and  corresponded 
with  Drs.  Dunglison  and  Patterson,  in  reference  to 
founding  a  new  medical  school  at  Cincinnati.  In  doing 
this,  he  was  acting  with  many  of  his  personal  friends, 
who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  proceedings  of  the  Medi- 
cal College  of  Ohio,  and  desired  to  see  him  placed  in 
a  position  worthy  of  his  talents  and  his  services,  as 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  city. 

After  correspondence  with  Patterson  and  Dunglison, 
he  failed  to  procure  their  services,  but  at  length  sue- 


MIAMI   UNIVERSITY.  207 

ceeded  in  making  up  a  faculty,  which  was  certainly 
by  no  means  inferior  to  others  in  talents  or  character. 
This  faculty  were  to  act  as  the  "Medical  Department 
of  Miami  University." 

Miami  University  was  one  of  two  which  had,  in  fact, 
been  founded  by  the  National  Government  within  the 
State  of  Ohio,  by  the  grant  of  a  township  of  land  to 
each.  It  had  received  from  the  State  Legislature  a 
charter,  conferring  full  University  powers.  Under  this 
charter  the  trustees,  upon  application  of  Dr.  Drake, 
now  organized  the  medical  department  at  Cincinnati. 

Upon  his  return  from  Philadelphia,  in  February,  and 
before  the  termination  of  the  session,  Dr.  Drake  found  a 
new  difficulty  in  the  way.  He  arrived  in  Columbus  just 
in  time  to  find  the  agents  of  the  Medical  College  of 
Ohio  at  work  upon  the  Legislature,  to  get  an  act  passed 
prohibiting  this  action  of  Miami  University  as  illegal. 
His  presence  was  opportune,  for  he  was  able  to  show 
that  the  University  had  full  powers ;  and,  on  motion 
of  Mr.  King,  chairman  of  the  committee,  the  subject 
was  postponed. 

This  project  proceeded  so  far  that  he  had  actually 
selected  all  the  professors,  and  written  out  a  programme 
of  the  institution,  which  only  needed  the  official  signa- 
tures to  be  announced  to  the  public.  The  school  was 
to  open  in  the  autumn  of  1831.  The  faculty  wras  to 
consist  of  Dr.  Drake,  Dr.  George  McClellan,  Dr.  John 
Eberle,  Dr.  James  M.  Staughton,  Dr.  J.  F.  Henry,  Dr. 
Thomas  D.  Mitchell,  and  Dr.  J.  N.  McDowell,  as  ad- 
junct Professor  of  Anatomy.  Of  these,  Drs.  Staughton, 
Eberle,  and  Mitchell,  came  out  to  Cincinnati ;  but,  at 
this  juncture  the  faculty  and  friends  of  the  Medical 
College  of  Ohio,  judging  that  the  new  school  would 


LIFE  OF  DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

probably  destroy  the  old  one,  took  measures  to  effect  a  com  - 
promise  and  union  of  the  two.  The  result  was,  that 
the  scheme  of  the  Miami  school  was  abandoned,  and 
Drs.  Eberle,  Staughton,  and  Mitchell,  accepted  places  in 
the  old  school.  A  professorship  was  also  created  for 
Dr.  Drake,  but  being  evidently  a  mere  supplement  to 
the  ordinary  chairs,  he  resigned  at  the  end  of  the  ses- 
sion of  1831-32,  and  again  returned  to  private  life. 

The  period  had  now  come  when  that  great  destroyer, 
the  cholera,  had  invaded  America.  Landing  from  an 
emigrant  ship  at  Quebec,  governed  by  the  same  myste- 
rious laws  which  had  ruled  its  action  from  the  beginning 
— pursuing  the  same  uninterrupted  and  devastating  ca- 
reer— it  ascended  the  St.  Lawrence,  entered  the  basin  of 
the  lakes,  and  was  now  sweeping  round  the  upper  Mis- 
sissippi, whence  it  entered  the  valley  of  the  Ohio.  From 
Buffalo  it  was  carried  by  Scott's  troops,  then  on  their 
way  to  engage  in  the  Black  Hawk  war.  Among  them 
it  broke  out  on  the  bosom  of  the  lakes,  and  by  the  time 
they  reached  Chicago  they  had  already  been  decimated 
by  the  angel  of  death,  and  a  large  number  of  the  rem- 
nant were  immediately  consigned  to  hospitals.  In  this 
manner  the  dreaded  and  fatal  invader  reached  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  thence  pursued  its  course  apparently  in 
steamboats. 

In  the  transmission  and  ultimate  results  of  this  pesti- 
lence, Dr.  Drake  was  profoundly  interested.  Like  most 
other  physicians,  he  did  not  believe  it  contagious;  but 
at  the  same  time  held  no  theory  to  account  for  its  trans- 
mission. Of  the  several  theories  of  contagion,  mineral 
poison,  malaria,  or  animalculae,  he  was  rather  more  in- 
clined to  the  last — that  is  the  probability  of  animalcular 
existence,  so  minute  as  to  be  undetected,  and  yet  capable 


THE   CHOLERA.  209 

of  an  animal  life,  which,  by  sometimes  subsisting  on 
persons,  and  sometimes  pursuing  an  independent  track 
in  the  atmosphere,  would  account  for  all  the  phenomena 
of  the  cholera  pestilence.  He  did  not  deny,  nor  can  any 
one  deny,  the  historical  fact,  that  the  cholera  frequently, 
nearly  always,  advanced  steadily  on  the  great  lines  of  lo- 
comotion, and  that  evidently  by  the  transmission  of 
persons.  Nor  can  it  be  denied,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
it  often  lights  down  on  places  remote  and  apparently 
disconnected  from  those  affected.  These  opposite  and 
contradictory  phenomena  are  reconciled  and  made  natu- 
rally possible,  on  the  animalcular  theory,  but  upon  no 
other.  On  the  question  of  contagion,  (meaning  by  that 
term  simply  transmission  by  persons,)  numbers  are  un- 
questionably in  the  negative ;  and  yet,  many  of  the 
clearest  minds,  both  in  and  out  of  the  profession,  believe 
cholera  contagious  in  this  sense. 

Dr.  Drake,  however,  did  not  declare  himself  in  favor 
of  any  theory,  but  was  willing  to  watch  events,  study 
the  remedies,  if  any  such  exist,  and  do  all  that  human 
energy  could  to  arrest,  abate,  or  render  endurable  the 
destruction  and  affliction  which  attended  the  pestilence. 
In  this  his  fortitude  and  feelings  were  most  severely  tried, 
for  he  was  destined,  successive  seasons,  to  see  several  of 
the  near  and  beloved  members  of  his  own  family,  borne 
to  the  grave,  with  a  suddenness  and  fierceness  of  attack 
which  placed  them  beyond  the  power  of  human  remedy. 

Notwithstanding  his  own  mournful  experience,  and 
his  observation  upon  the  utter  futility  of  the  most  popular 
remedies  for  cholera,  he  yet  believed,  in  common  with 
the  great  body  of  intelligent  physicians,  that  some  princi- 
ples were  established  even  in  cholera.  Among  these  the 
great  and  important  one  is,  that  cholera  yields  to 

18 


210  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

medicine  only  in  its  first  and  forming  stage,  or  rather  it 
is  only  then  that  we  can  expect  and  hope. for  success.  Ex- 
perience seems  to  have  established,  that  where  proper 
remedies  have  been  applied  in  the  forming  stage,  there 
are  comparatively  but  few  fatal  cases  ;  while  in  the  latter 
stages  there  are  but  few  recover.  The  great  practical 
difficulty  in  applying  this  principle  in  the  treatment  of 
patients  is  that,  in  the  height  or  greatest  power  of  the 
pestilence,  so  short  a  time  elapses  between  the  first  and 
the  last  symptoms,  that  the  forming  stage  seems  to  dis- 
appear. The  disease  comes  like  a  sudden,  destructive, 
and  fatal  blow,  giving  no  warning,  and  crushing  the  body 
into  instant  ruin. 

This  is  the  form  in  which  it  often  appears  in  India, 
leaving  but  three  or  four  hours  between  the  fullness  of 
life  and  the  silence  of  death.  In  the  great  majority  of 
cases,  however,  there  is  warning,  and  .often  for  several 
days,  so  that  the  principle  of  ol)sta  principiis,  which  in 
cholera  is  found  to  be  almost  a  perfect  remedy,  may  be 
successfully  applied. 

Another  principle  which  Dr.  Drake  adhered  to,  and  in 
which  the  great  body  of  able  physicians  are  also  agreed 
is,  that  the  combination  of  mercury  and  opium  is  at 
last  the  great  sheet  anchor.  All  the  minor  remedies  he 
used  freely,  but  resolutely  adhered  to  the  necessity  of 
acting  on  the  liver,  as  the  great  means  of  ultimate  re- 
covery. But,  while  believing  this,  he  was  never  such  a 
bigot  of  rule  as  to  refuse  or  neglect  anything  which 
afforded  the  least  prospect  for  relief  or  success.  In  a 
disease  where  there  is  confessedly  no  known  remedy  as 
such,  the  physician  is  thrown  upon  any  expedient  which 
nature,  or  genius,  or  skill,  or  even  empiricism  itself,  can 
afford.  He  will  only  reject  what  he  knows  must  be 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE  CHOLERA.  211 

injurious.  While,  however,  the  great  field  of  expedients 
was  open  to  him,  Dr.  Drake  never  ceased  to  admonish 
the  public  and  the  profession,  that  it  was  only  by  pre- 
ventive measures  in  the  first  instance,  and  by  acting  on 
the  liver  and  the  skin  as  remedies,  that  any  success 
could  be  expected  in  the  treatment  of  cholera.  In  this 
he  coincided  with  the  almost  uniform  experience  and 
opinions  of  enlightened  physicians,  from  India  to  Eng- 
land, and  from  England  to  the  United  States.  Any  one 
who  desires  to  know  both  the  virulence  of  this  class  of 
diseases,  and  the  most  reliable  remedies  in  those  coun- 
tries where  they  are  most  violent,  will  find  an  interesting 
account  of  them  in  the  admirable  work  of  Dr.  James 
Johnson,  on  the  Diseases  of  Tropical  Climates.* 

Mysterious  as  the  pestilence  known  as  Asiatic  cholera 
is  in  its  mode  of  action,  its  history  is  scarcely  less  so. 
In  almost  every  one  of  the  multitude  of  articles  and 
treatises  written  on  this  subject,  it  is  said  to  have  com- 
menced in  India,  in  the  year  1817.  No  mention  is  made 
of  its  appearance  at  any  earlier  period ;  and  yet  it  is  ad- 
mitted to  be  the  disease  long  and  universally  known  as 
cholera,  only  that  in  this  form  it  has  assumed  two  new 
characteristics — that  is,  epidemic  and  spasmodic.  The 
last  can  hardly  be  called  a  new  characteristic,  for  it  fre- 
quently attends  the  severer  forms  of  common  cholera. 
And  this  is  so  little  peculiar,  that  physicians  have  fre- 
quently differed  in  opinion  as  to  .whether  a  case  was 
Asiatic  or  common  cholera.  Two  facts,  however,  all  are 
agreed  upon:  that  it  is  epidemic,  or,  in  other  words,  a 
pestilence,  and  that  there  is  a  peculiar  absence  of  biliary 

*  This  is  a  small  work  published,  I  believe,  under  the  title  of 
Johnson  on  Tropical  Climates. 


212  LIFE   OF  DK.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

discharges.  These  are  the  only  peculiar  facts  upon  which 
the  medical  profession  and  its  historians  are  agreed. 

It  is  hardly  credible,  then,  that  a  disease  so  closely 
assimilated  to  common  cholera,  should  in  a  hot  climate, 
or  in  the  hot  seasons  of  temperate  climates,  have  only 
made  its  appearence  as  late  as  the  year  1817,  and  only 
in  one  country.  Unquestionably  this  malady,  in  its 
modified  form,  has  only  in  the  last  forty  years,  assumed 
the  character  and  the  fatality  of  a  pestilence.  Practi- 
cally, it  is  enough  to  know  this,  and  sad  enough  to  realize 
its  ravages  without  speculating  on  its  causes.  In  the 
divine  economy  of  moral  administration,  this  comes 
among  innumerable  evils,  as  one  of  the  chastisements  de- 
manded by  human  sin,  and  in  the  Christian  view,  as  one 
of  the  means  of  human  reformation.  The  history  of 
human  diseases,  in  conection  with  civilization  and  morals, 
is  a  work  yet  to  be  written  by  some  great  and  en- 
lightened physician,  who  shall  realize  that  his  vocation 
is  something  more  then  a  mechanical  trade,  and  that 
God  rales  the  universe  of  being  by  moral  laws.  Such 
a  work  would  not  only  be  honorable  to  its  author,  but 
one  great  step  in  the  progress  of  that  social  science 
whose  completion  is  to  be  the  crowning  glory  of  the 
coming  age. 

In  this  connection,  I  quote  a  paragraph  from  Syden- 
ham  on  "  Epidemic  Diseases,"  which  if  it  does  not  prove 
that  what  we  call  Asiatic  cholera  prevailed  in  his  time, 
certainly  proves  that  cholera  morbus  may  partake  of 
the  same  violent  symptoms,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  be- 
come epidemic.  Speaking  of  the  epidemic  maladies  of 
1676,  he  says:—* 

*  Sydenham  on  Epidemical  Diseases,  from  1675  to  1680. 


CHOLERA  MOKBUS.  213 

"  At  the  end  of  summer,  the  cholera  morbus  raged  epi- 
demically, and  being  heightened  by  the  unusual  heat  of 
the  season,  the  symptom  of  convulsions  that  accompanied 
it  were  more  violent  and  continued  longer  then  ever  I  ob- 
served before,  for  they  did  not  only  seize  the  belly,  as 
they  were  wont,  but  now  all  the  muscles  of  the  body,  and 
the  arms  and  legs  were  especially  seized  with  dread- 
ful convulsions,  so  that  the  sick  wrould  sometimes  leap 
out  of  bed,  endeavoring,  by  stretching  his  body  every 
way,  to  suppress  the  violence  of  them ;  but  though  this 
disease  did  not  require  any  new  method  of  cure,  yet 
stronger  anodynes,  and  oftener  repeated,  were  plainly 
indicated."  Sydenham  then  mentions  that  he  gave 
liquid  laudanum,  and  frequently  repeated,  to  patients  near 
dying  with  convulsions,  cold  sweats,  and  whose  pulse 
could  scarcely  b$  felt.* 

Unquestionably,  the  cholera  morbus  did  not  become 
such  a  pestilence,  attacking  so  many  thousands  then,  as 
the  Asiatic  cholera  has  done  since ;  but  when  Syden- 
ham describes  it  as  an  epidemic  raging,  as  marked  by 
spasmodic  action,  as  reducing  patients  to  death  in 
twenty-four  hours,  as  occurring  at  the  close  of  summer, 
ad  as  abating  and  going  off  in  about  six  weeks,  has 
he  not  described  all  the  leading  characteristics  of  the 
cholera  pestilence?  Historically  and  descriptively,  I 
should  say  that  the  recent  pestilence  was  not  so  much  a 
new  disease  as  an  old  one,  made  epidemic,  efficient,  and 
to  multitudes  fatal,  in  the  economy  of  providence  ad- 
ministered by  the  hand  of  God.  Physical  causes  are 
everywhere  used  as  instruments  in  the  moral  govern- 
ment of  the  universe,  plague,  famine,  storm,  and  mildew 

*  Sydenham  on  Epidemical  Diseases,  from  1675  to  1680. 


214:  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

are  the  mere  physical  tools  by  which  the  angel  of 
justice  administers  divine  punishment.  What  then  if 
we  should  trace  every  element  of  disease,  mark  its  pro- 
gress with  mathematical  lines,  and  be  able  to  administer 
every  antidote  which  the  chemistry  of  nature  can  afford  ? 
We  might  save  some  individual  sufferers,  but  would  it 
stay  the  pestilence?  Would  it  prevent  a  new  one? 
Would  it  withdraw  the  arm  of  that  angel,  whose 
shadowy  wings  affright  humanity,  and  casts  their  cloud 
upon  all  the  living? 

The  use  of  remedies,  in  individual  cases,  is  taught 
both  by  nature  and  Scripture,  nor  is  there  the  least 
reason  to  doubt  they  are  frequently  efficacious.  But 
while  we  are  taught  this,  both  by  reason  and  revelation, 
we  are  taught,  with  it,  two  great,  cardinal,  and  eternal 
principles  in  the  government  of  God,  which  should 
never,  for  a  moment,  be  lost  sight  of  by  any  enlightened 
Christian.  The  first  is,  that  God  is  himself  the  great 
physician ;  ;and  the  second  is,  that,  although  He  has  per- 
formed even  miracles  to  save  the  life  of  one  man,  He  has 
never  arrested,  or  promised  to  arrest,  any  of  the  physical 
laws  of  being,  which  roll  on  now,  as  they  ever  have 
done,  unchangeable,  ceaseless,  and  eternal,  throughout 
the  universe.  An  illustration  of  both  these  principles  is 
found  in  the  case  of  Hezekiah,  whose  life,  in  answer  to 
prayer,  was  prolonged  fifteen  years ;  but  it  was  not  done 
without  the  apparent  use  of  means,  nor  was  his  life  pro- 
longed beyond  the  period  of  common  old  age.  The  laws 
of  nature  were  maintained,  while  the  hand  of  God  admin- 
istered a  healing  remedy.  Tiie  Scriptures  afford  various 
and  ample  illustrations  of  the  same  principles.  Even 
that  stumbling-block  to  skeptics — the  sun  standing  still 
over  the  hill  of  Gibeon,  at  the  command  of  Joshua — was 


CHOLEKA.  215 

not  an  exception.  By  whatever  means  produced,  the 
course  of  nature  was  not  changed  by  that  phenomenon. 
The  laws  of  life  went  on;  the  sun  continued  his  career 
of  glory  and  blessing,  and  the  omnipotence  of  God  was 
as  much  exhibited  in  the  unchangeable  laws  by  which  it 
was  held  in  its  course,  as  in  the  wonderful  appearance 
of  its  arrest  in  mid-heavens. 

These  great  facts — that  God  administers  mercy  at  his 
own  will,  and  at  the  same  time  maintains  the  laws  of 
physical  existence,  in  a  course  as  fixed  and  immutable 
as  his  own  character — explain  much  of  what  seems 
irregular  and  inconsistent  in  the  progress  of  society. 
The  Christian  believes  this ;  but  even  he — to  understand 
more  fully  what  he  now  sees  through  a  glass  dimly — 
needs  an  illustration  which,  I  believe,  after  ages  will 
supply,  and  which,  I  doubt  not,  the  better  understood 
laws  of  nature  and  society  can  afford.  It  is  Social 
science  which  will  furnish  another  parallelism  with 
nature  and  revelation.  It  will  give  the  demonstration 
to  what  the  Christian  believes.  It  will  disentangle 
history  from  a  mass  of  jumbled  facts,  and  show  a  great 
system  of  moral  causes,  all  tending  to  one  great  end. 
It  will  show  the  ministering  angels  of  God,  whether 
moving  in  revolution  or  pestilence,  directing  them  all  to 
human  improvement  and  the  ultimate  perfection  of 
society.  It  will  show  more — that  this  great  end  could 
not  have  been  accomplished  without  them — that  not  a 
blight  has  fallen  on  the  field,  which  was  not  the  seed  of 
future  good — not  a  wind  brought  the  plague,  which 
was  not  the  breath  of  future  life* — not  an  overturn 


*  This  has  been  proved  literally  true,  in  the  greater  number  of 
births  which  take  place  in  the  cholera  season,  or  rather,  conceptions. 


216  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

among  the  nations,  which  did  not  build  up  a  better 
society.* 

Social  science  is  yet  in  its  mere  germ,  though  many 
of  its  elements  have  begun  to  appear.  No  small  part 
of  it  is  what  a  physician,  better  than  any  other  man, 
can  develop ;  and  he  who  shall  write  the  history  of 
disease  in  connection  with  society,  and  he  who  shall 
trace  the  physical  laws  of  life,  will  have  furnished  no 
small  part  of  that  great  structure  of  science  which  the 
coming  age  will  complete. 

In  the  recent  work  of  Dr.  Drake  on  the  Diseases  of 
the  Interior  Valley,  there  is  here  and  there  some  tracing 
of  this  social  science,  arid  his  mind  was  evidently  turned 
towards  the  dawning  light  of  the  new  development. 
It  was  this  which  caused  him  to  trace  so  elaborately  the 
physical  structure  of  the  Mississippi  valley ;  for  he  saw 
clearly  that  this  structure  influenced  the  food  and  habits 
of  the  people,  as  well  as  the  causes  of  disease.  It  was 
this  which  induced  him  to  trace  the  history  and  effects 
of  a  disease  by  the  statistics  of  various  countries,  and, 
though  he  was  touching  only  on  the  borders  of  social 
science,  yet  the  idea  of  diseases  modified  or  originated 
by  the  condition  of  society,  as  well  as  the  laws  of 
physical  being,  rose  forcibly  to  his  mind,  and  he  needed 
only  to  have  lived  in  a  later  generation  to  have  been  one 
of  the  most  eminent  in  the  new  career. 

It  was  September,  in  the  year  1832,  when  the  cholera, 
which  had  reached  Quebec  in  May,  had  gradually  as- 


*  It  is  only  necessary  to  trace  to  their  ultimate  effects  the  over- 
turns which  have  taken  place  in  great  empires,  to  see  clearly  that 
from  a  corrupted  and  decayed  society  there  has  risen  a  better  one* 


APPEARANCE   OF  CHOLERA   IN  CINCINNATI.  217 

cended  the  St.  Lawrence,  swept  through  the  Lakes  and 
descended  the  Upper  Mississippi,  was  now  passing  up  the 
Ohio.  It  came  by  steamboats,  some  of  which  had  car- 
ried troops  and  emigrants  on  the  Mississippi,  infected 
with  the  disease.  The  mode  in  which  it  appeared  at 
Cincinnati  has  never  been  clearly  established.  Dr. 
Drake  publicly  announced  its  appearance  about  ten  days 
before  it  was  generally  admitted  to  exist.  In  that  case, 
its  appearance  was  prior  to  any  known  transmission 
of  it  by  steamboats.  Of  this  fact  he  was  always  firmly 
convinced. 

In  announcing  it  to  the  public,  he  accompanied  the 
statement  with  general  directions  of  precaution  to  the 
people.  These  were  such  as  were  given  by  the  best 
physicians  of  New  York,  and  are  now  generally  known 
and  observed  in  cholera  seasons.  They  related  chiefly 
to  diet,  clothing,  exposure  and  the  early  application  of 
remedies. 

The  cholera  broke  out  extensively  at  Cincinnati  about 
the  20th  of  September,  and  during  the  severe  and  af- 
flicting season  in  which  it  was  prevalent,  he  was  inces- 
santly employed,  and  the  plague  left  him,  as  it  did  many 
others,  weary  with  fatigue,  and  depressed  from  loss  and 
excitement. 

Either  just  before  or  after  this  visitation  of  cholera,  Dr. 
Drake  published  a  "  Practical  Treatise  on  the  History, 
Prevention  and  Treatment  of  Epidemic  Cholera."  It 
formed  a  duodecimo  of  nearly  two  hundred  pages,  and 
Dr.  Gross  states :  "  comprised  an  excellent  and  graphic 
account  of  that  formidable  malady  ;"  but  for  some  reason 
was  not  very  well  received,  and  was  little  heard  of  after- 
ward. Probably  the  fact  that  Dr.  Drake  was  then  person- 

19 


218  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

ally  unacquainted  with  the  cholera,  caused  an  impres- 
sion that  his  views  and  directions  were  not  valuable. 

The  cholera  has  now  visited  Cincinnati,  more  or  less, 
in  seven  seasons :  1832,  '33,  '34,  '49,  '50,  51  and  '52, 
and  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been  absent  in  the  last 
two  years — although  not  epidemic.  In  these  seasons  I 
have  either  been  in  Cincinnati  or  its  vicinity,  and,  except 
1852,  have  been  where  the  cholera  was;  and  I  think 
certain  facts  connected  with  it  are  historically  established, 
although  neither  of  them  really  bear  on  the  treatment  of 
the  disease : 

First.  The  Asiatic  or  spasmodic  cholera,  is  not  a 
disease  of  cold  weather,  but  is,  like  the  cholera  morbus, 
a  disease  of  hot  weather,  and  like  that,  rather  in  the 
declining  than  the  approaching  stage  of  heat.  This  cor- 
responds with  Sy  den  ham's  statement  of  the  epidemic 
cholera  morbus  in  England.  In  every  season  of  its 
appearance  except  the  first,  when  it  appeared  in  Septem- 
ber, the  crisis  has  been  in  July. 

Second.  It  invariably  disappears,  with  absolute  cer- 
tainty, after  the  occurrence  of  a  few  frosts.  In  this  it 
follows  the  laws  of  yellow  fever,  cholera  morbus,  and 
other  diseases  of  hot  climates.  Once,  in  October,  1834, 
it  occurred  late  in  the  season,  after  an  abatement,  but 
disappeared  almost  immediately.  The  weather  which 
induced  it  was  one  or  two  sultry  days  for  the  season. 

Third.  The  epidemic  cholera  is  not  accompanied 
by  any  sensible  or  discernable  changes  in  the  atmos- 
phere. Each  summer  that  it  has  appeared  in  Cincinnati, 
the  season  has  been  hot,  especially  in  1849,  and  gener- 
ally it  seemed  that  the  malady  was  the  worst  on  the 
hottest  days.  An  occasional  thunder  storm  occurred; 


CHOLERA    STATISTICS.  219 

but  its  effect,  if  any,  was  very  brief.  In  the  early  part 
of  October,  1832,  I  was  descending  the  Ohio  in  a  steam- 
boat. The  cholera  was  then  in  every  boat  ascending 
the  river,  and  in  many  of  the  towns  on  the  banks ;  but 
I  never  beheld  more  beautiful  weather,  or  apparently  a 
purer  atmosphere.  It  was  in  vain  to  look  upon  the  face 
of  nature  with  any  idea  of  finding  pestilence  there.  The 
earth  never  looked  lovelier,  nor  did  the  air  ever  seem 
healthier.  I  was  persuaded  then,  and  have  been  since, 
by  other  observations,  that  by  whatever  name  such  an 
influence  may  be  called,  cholera  was  really  transmitted 
by  human  movement,  at  least,  in  its  specific  form  as  a 
plague. 

Fourth.    Either  the  influence  of  cholera  has  changed 

o 

the  general  character  of  diseases,  or  such  change  is  a 
necessary  consequence  of  the  introduction  of  new  dis- 
eases. This  I  do  not  say  from  the  testimony  of  physi- 
cians, but  from  my  own  observation.  I  know  that 
prior  to  1832,  the  bilious  and  remittant  fevers  were  at 
least  five-fold  as  numerous,  in  proportion  to  the  popula- 
tion, as  they  have  been  since,  and  especially  since  1849. 
How  far  this  may  have  been  caused  by  changes  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  country  and  the  habits  of  the  people,  I 
leave  for  others.  The  fact  is  beyond  a  doubt. 

The  social  statistics  of  Cincinnati  have  been  very  im- 
perfectly kept.  In  fact,  they  have  not  been  kept  at  all. 
Such  as  we  have  are  the  result  of  individual  effort  rather 
than  of  public  spirit  or  sagacity.  But  even  these  may 
be  of  some  aid  in  taking  a  correct  view  of  such  a  pesti- 
lence as  for  several  years  invaded  this  city  and  country, 
making  a  new  era  in  medical  history. 

For  this  purpose  I  subjoin  the  following  tables,  which 


220  LIFE   OF  DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

are  supposed  to  be  nearly  correct,  of  the  fatality  and  social 
characteristics  of  the  cholera  in  Cincinnati  during  1849. 
It  commenced  about  the  middle  of  April,  but  did  not 
entirely  cease  till  the  return  of  frosts  ;  but  the  intensity 
of  the  pestilence  may  be  dated  from  the  middle  of  June 
to  the  middle  of  August.  In  other  words,  it  increased 
and  declined  with  the  heat.  Except  in  the  first  season, 
1832,  this  has  been  its  uniform  characteristic  in  every 
year  of  its  appearance.  It  was  so  in  1833,  '34,  '49,  '50, 
'51,  and  '52.  In  the  latter  seasons  it  was  very  light. 
In  September,  1849,  the  Board  of  Health  in  Cincinnati 
returned  the  following  number  of  deaths,  between  the 
first  of  May  and  the  first  of  September — four  months : 

Deaths  by  Cholera 4,114 

Deaths  by  other  diseases 2,345 

Aggregate 6,459 


If  we  add  to  this  the  aggregate  number  of  deaths  in 
the  last  two  weeks  of  April,  and  from  the  first  of  Septem- 
ber to  the  15th  of  October,  during  which  the  number  of 
deaths  exceeded  the  average,  we  shall  have  for  six  months 
at  least  seven  thousand,  of  which  four  thousand  six  hun- 
dred were  from  cholera.  The  mortality  of  the  other  six 
months,  at  the  average  rate,  was  only  one  thousand  five 
hundred.  We  have,  then,  for  1849,  a  total  mortality  of 
eight  thousand  five  hundred,  which  (the  population  of 
the  city  being  one  hundred  and  sixteen  thousand,)  made 
a  ratio  of  one  in  fourteen.  If  we  examine  this  mortality 
socially,  we  shall  arrive  at  some  extraordinary  results. 
The  division  of  the  cemetries  at  Cincinnati,  by  nationalities 
and  religions,  is  so  complete,  that  it  is  easily  determined 
how  many  of  Americans,  and  how  many  Protestants 
died  of  cholera.  Taking  the  number  given  above,  of 


CHOLERA  STATISTICS.  221 

those  who  died  between  the  first  of  May  and  the  first 
of  September,  we  have  this  result : 

Germans,  Irish,  and  Hebrews,  died  of  cholera  in  four 

months 2,896 

Americans,  English,  Scotch,  and  Welch 1,218 

4,114 


Mr.  Cist,  in  his  "  Cincinnati  in  1850,"  gives  the  com- 
position of  the  inhabitants  then  in  Cincinnati.  The  total 
population  by  the  census  was  one  hundred  and  sixteen 
thousand.  The  proportions  of  the  foreign  population 
were  as  follows: 

Germany  and  Ireland 44,244  =  40  per  cent. 

Americans,  English,  Scotch,  &c 71,750  —  60  per  cent. 

Now  let  us  make  the  comparison  of  deaths,  to  the 
various  elements  of  population,  during  the  four  months 
mentioned  above. 

By  Cholera.  Deaths.    Population.      Ratio. 

Whole  number 4,114  116,000  1  in  29 

Germans  and  Irish 2,853  44,244  1  in  16 

Hebrews 43  2,849  1  in  64 

Americans,  English,  Scotch,  Welch,  &c.  1,218  70,000  1  in  58 

We  see  thus  that  the  deaths  among  the  Germans  and 
Irish  is  within  a  fraction  of  being  four-fold  that  of  the 
Americans,  and  double  that  of  the  entire  population, 
proportionally.  A  more  minute  and  detailed  investiga- 
tion of  this  matter  would,  perhaps,  prove  that  the  pro- 
portion of  mortality  was  even  more  than  this  against 
the  foreign  element.  Those  who  would  contribute  some- 
thing to  the  progress  of  social  science,  will  find  it  an 
interesting  problem  to  investigate  the  causes  of  this  ex- 
traordinary difference  in  the  mortality  of  the  foreign  and 
native  elements.  The  causes  are  probably  various,  but 


222  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL  DRAKE. 

the  greatest  among  them  is  the  inferior  civilization  of 
the  Germanic  and  Irish  elements  in  America.  What- 
ever the  civilization  of  Ireland  and  Germany  may  be  at 
home,  it  is  very  certain  that  it  comes  to  this  country  in  a 
very  inferior  dress.  It  will  probably  be  replied  that  only 
the  poorer  classes  come  to  America.  Grant  this.  Then 
we  are  reduced  to  the  alternative  of  supposing  the  same 
class  in  America  does  not  exist,  or,  that  the  same  class 
of  Americans  are  comparatively  exempt.  The  fact  is, 
that  no  class  of  Americans  meet  with  the  same  mortality. 
I  suppose  that  the  immediate  causes  of  this  difference 
are  these:  1.  Greater  density  of  habitation.  Both 
Germans  and  Irish  huddle  together,  many  families  in  the 
same  building.  2.  Dirty  habits.  The  proof  of  this  is 
palpable  to  the  eyes  and  nose  of  any  who  observe  closely. 
3.  Disregard  of  proper  diet.  Very  few  foreigners  in 
this  country  can  be  pursuaded  that  there  is  any  reason 
or  advantage  in  regulating  their  diet.  The  consequences 
of  this  imprudence  are  often  fatal.  4.  Inferior  me- 
dical treatment.  This  remark  applies  especially  to 
the  Germans,  who,  with  a  conceit  scarcely  ever  ex- 
celled, imagine  that  in  a  warm  climate,  damp  atmos- 
phere, and  abundance  of  vegetable  malaria,  they  can 
resist  bilious  disorders  with  a  few  simples  and  plasters. 
It  is  quite  fashionable  to  decry  the  stern  old  remedies  of 
the  American  practice,  and  fly  to  the  wild  theories  of 
Germany.  This  sort  of  fashion,  however,  is  losing 
ground.  Experience,  the  great  teacher  of  wisdom,  is 
against  it ;  and  while  it  is  very  certain  we  cannot  con- 
trol the  laws  of  life  and  death,  it  is  equally  certain  that 
science  and  experience  have  conquered  much  valuable 
ground  from  the  domains  of  doubt  and  uncertainty. 


CHAPTER  X. 

1833 — 1835 — Vine  Street  Reunions — Literary  Society  of  Cincinnati- 
Distinguished  Persons — Social  Influence  on  Literature — Buckeye 
Emblems — College  of  Teachers — Leading  Characters — Grirnke — 
Kinmont — Albert  Pickett — Joshua  L.Wilson — Perkins — Dr.  Drake 
on  Discipline — On  Anatomy  and  Physiology — On  Emulation — Oil 
the  Powers  of  Government  in  relation  to  Schools. 

THE  first  storm  of  the  cholera  had  passed  away,  and 
the  year  1833  came,  when  Dr.  Drake  was  found  again 
engaged  solely  in  private  pursuits.  He  was  still  editor 
of  the  Journal,  and  still  surgeon  of  the  Eye  Infirmary, 
but  was  mainly  engaged  in  professional  practice;  and  so 
he  remained  during  the  next  three  years,  after  which 
he  recommenced,  with  renewed  activity,  his  career  of 
public  enterprise.  In  this  period,  one  of  greater  quiet 
and  ease  than  he  usually  enjoyed,  he  devoted  more  time 
to  his  family  and  personal  interests.  He  then  built  his 
house  on  Vine  street,  and,  collecting  his  family  and 
friends  about  him,  entered  with  zeal  into  those* social 
enjoyments  for  which  he  was  peculiarly  fitted.  His  son 
Charles,  (now  of  St.  Louis,)  was  just  entering  the  bar. 
His  two  daughters,  to  whom,  since  their  mother's  death, 
he  had  been  both  mother  and  father,  were  just  emerging 
from  girlhood.  For  their  sakes,  probably,  more  than  for 
his.pwn,  he  originated  a  social  and  literary  reunion  at 
his  house,  which,  to  those  who  frequented  it,  possessed 
all  the  charms  of  information,  genius,  wit,  and  kindness. 
Those  meetings  are  indelibly  impressed  upon  my 
memory,  and  though  others  of  similar  character  have 
been  made  memorable  by  literary  fame,  I  am  well 
223 


224  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

persuaded  that  they  were  neither  more  instructive  or 
more  pleasing  than  those  which  Dr.  Drake  gathered 
round  him  at  his  Vine  street  home. 

His  plan  of  entertainment  and  instruction  was  pecu- 
liar. It  was  to  avoid  the  rigidity  and  awkwardness  of  a 
mere  literary  party,  and  yet  to  keep  the  mind  of  the 
company  occupied  with  questions  for  discussion,  or 
topics  for  reading  and  composition.  Thus  the  conversa- 
tion never  degenerated  into  mere  gossip,  nor  was  it  ever 
forced  into  an  unpleasant  and  unwilling  gravity.  We 
used  to  assemble  early — about  half-past  seven — and 
when  fully  collected,  the  doctor,  who  was  the  acknowl- 
edged chairman,  rung  his  little  bell  for  general  atten- 
tion. This  caused  no  constraint,  but  simply  brought  us 
to  a  common  point,  which  was  to  be  the  topic  of  the 
evening.  Sometimes  this  was  appointed  beforehand, 
sometimes  it  arose  out  of  what  was  said  or  proposed  on 
the  occasion.  Some  evenings  compositions  were  read, 
on  topics  selected  at  the  last  meeting.  On  other  even- 
ings nothing  was  read,  and  the  time  was  passed  in  a 
general  discussion  of  some  interesting  question.  Occa- 
sionally a  piece  of  poetry  or  a  story  came  in,  to  diversify 
and  fcliven  the  conversation.  These,  however,  were 
rather  interludes,  than  parts  of  the  general  plan,  whose 
main  object  was  the  discussion  of  interesting  questions 
belonging  to  society,  literature,  education,  and  religion. 

The  subjects  were  always  of  the  suggestive  or  prob- 
lematical kind,  so  that  the  ideas  were  fresh,  the  debate 
animated,  and  the  utterance  of  opinions  frank  and  spon- 
taneous. There,  in  that  little  circle  of  ladies  and  gentle- 
men, I  have  heard  many  of  the  questions  which  have  since 
occupied  the  public  mind,  talked  over  with  an  ability 
and  a  fullness  of  information  which  is  seldom  possessed 


EEUNIONS.  225 

by  larger  and  more  authoritative  bodies.  To  the  mem- 
ber of  that  circle,  these  meetings  and  discussions  were 
invaluable.  They  were  excited  to  think  deeply'of  what 
the  many  think  but  superficially.  They  heard  the  ring 
of  the  doctor's  bell  with  the  pleasure  of  those  who  delight 
in  the  communion  of  spirits,  and  revel  in  intellectual 
wealth.  Nor  was  that  meeting  an  unimportant  affair; 
for  nothing  can  be  unimportant  which  directs  minds 
whose  influence  spreads  over  a  country ;  and  such  were 
here.  I  do  not  say  what  impressions  they  received ;  but 
I  know  that  persons  were  assembled  there,  in  pleasant 
converse,  such  as  seldom  meet  in  one  place,  and  who 
since,  going  out  into  the  world,  have  signalized  their 
names  in  the  annals  of  letters,  science,  and  benevolence. 
I  shall  violate  no  propriety  by  naming  some  of  them, 
for  those  whom  I  shall  name  have  been  long  known  to 
the  public.  DR.  DRAKE  was  himself  the  head  of  the 
circle,  whose  suggestive  mind^  furnished  topics  for  others, 
and  was  ever  ready  to  incite  their  energies  and  enliven 
the  flagging  conversation.  General  EDWARD  KING  was 
another,  who,  in  spirit,  manners,  and  elocution,  was  a 
superior  man,  having  the  dignity  of  the  old  school,  with 
the  life  of  the  new.  His  wife,  since  Mrs.  PETERS,  and 
wridely  known  for  her  active  benevolence,  and  as  the 
founder  of  the  Philadelphia  School  of  Design,  con- 
tributed several  interesting  articles  for  the  circle,  and 
was  a  most  instructive  member.  Judge  JAMES  HALL, 
then  editor  of  the  Western  Monthly  Magazine,  whose 
name  is  known  both  in  Europe  and  America,  was  also 
there.  Professor  STOWE,  unsurpassed  in  biblical  learn- 
ing, contributed  his  share  to  the  conversation.  Miss 
HARRIET  BEECHER,  now  Mrs.  Stowe,  was  just  beginning 
to  be  known  for  her  literary  abilities,  and  about  that 


226  LIFE   OF  DK.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

time  contributed  several  of  her  best  stories  to  the  press. 
She  was  not  a  ready  talker,  but  when  she  spoke  or 
wrote,  showed  both  the  strength  and  the  humor  of  her 
mind.  Her  sister,  Miss  CATHARINE  BEECHER,  so  well 
known  for  her  labors  and  usefulness  in  the  cause  of 
female  education,  was  a  more  easy  and  fluent  conver- 
sationalist. Indeed,  few  people  have  more  talent  to 
entertain  a  company,  or  keep  the  ball  of  conversation 
going,  than  Miss  Beecher ;  and  she  was  as  willing  as  she 
was  able.  Conspicu9us,  both  in  person  and  manners, 
was  Mrs.  CAROLINE  LEE  HENTZE,  whom  none  saw  without 
admiring.  She  was  what  the  world  calls  charming,  and 
though  since  better  known  as  an  authoress,  was  person- 
ally quite  remarkable.  She,  and  her  highly  educated 
husband,  a  man  on  some  subjects  quite  learned,  but  of 
such  retiring  habits  as  hid  him  from  the  public  view, 
were  then  keeping  a  popular  female  seminary  in  Cincin- 
nati. They  were  among  tBe  most  active  and  interesting 
members  of  our  coterie.  I  might  name  others,  whose 
wit  or  information  contributed  to  the  charms  of  our 
intercourse,  but  I  should  want  the  apology  which  public 
fame  has  given  to  the  mention  of  these.  In  the  current 
of  private  life,  it  often  happens  that  those  unknown  to 
the  public  are  the  most  genial  and  inspiring  spirits  of 
the  social  circle.  Like  the  little  stream  which  flows 
among  the  lofty  hills,  they  sparkle  as  they  flow,  and 
shine  in  the  shade.  We  had  more  than  one  such,  and 
while  memory  sees  first  the  fame-covered  hill,  it  dwells 
longest  and  closest  with  those  who  cast  sunshine  on  our 
path,  and  made  life  happy  as  it  was  bright. 

That  time  has  gone  on  the  wings  of  twenty  years,  and 
never,  in  so  brief  period,  were  greater  or  more  rapid 
changes.  Not  only  is  this  great  city  six-fold  its  then 


SOCIAL  MEETINGS  AT  LUDLOW  STATION.  227 

magnitude,  presenting,  over  river,  plain,  and  hill,  the 
aspect  of  some  modern  Babylon;  but  they  who  then 
met  with  us  in  happy  converse — where  are  they  ?  In 
vain  do  we  search  the  busy  streets.  Some  we  must  seek 
in  the  silent  grave ;  others  in  far  distant  lands ;  and  we 
recall  these  scenes  only  by  the  light  of  a  memory  which 
again  brings  the  dead  and  the  parted  together.  Even 
now,  while  I  write,  two  of  our  number  are  dwelling  in 
the  sunny  plains  of  the  south  ;  five  are  in  New  England ; 
one  is  on  the  Mississippi;  one  is  in  ancient  Eome; 
others  are  in  their  tombs  ;  and  the  fewest  of  our  number 
remain.  The  great  stream  of  the  world  rolls  on.  We 
are  borne  along  by  its  current,  leaving  the  past  only  to 
be  remembered,  and  the  future  only  to  be  discerned 
through  the  shadowy  haze  of  the  horizon. 

These  social  meetings  were  held  just  a  quarter  of  a 
century  after  those  of  a  different,  but  equally  pleasant, 
kind  with  which  he  was  associated  at  Ludlow  Station. 
There  his  life  seemed  to  be  quickened  and  brightened, 
and  there  it  was  made  happy  by  the  first  smiles  of  his 
wife.  Now  he  seemed  to  have  substituted  his  children 
for  her,  and  in  these  meeting  to  revive  the  glow,  as  well 
as  the  memory  of  his  earlier  years.  He  acquired  new 
vigor ;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  circle,  he  was  the  center 
of  society  and  the  inspirer  of  the  occasion.  He  made 
them  such  as  oases  are  in  the  desert,  refreshing  to  the 
weary  traveler,  and  seeming  to  give  forth  life  and 
strength  to  last  through  the  heat  and  labor  of  the  jour- 
ney. Alas !  that  we  should  meet  such  scenes  so  sel- 
dom, and  when  passed  we  should  meet  them  no  more ! 

1  have  dwelt  more  particularly  on  these  meetings  to 
illustrate  what  I  think  I  have  seen  in  other  cases,  and  to 
which  people  in  general  seldom  give  due  weight.  I 


228  LIFE   OF   DK.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

mean  the  influence  of  social  sympathy  in  forming  and 
developing  individual  minds.  Several  years  since,  I 
heard  one  of  oldest  and  most  experienced  teachers  in 
the  United  States,*  enumerate  a  number  of  distinguished 
public  men  in  New  York,  who  had  all  been  pupils,  at  one 
time,  of  one  school.  Among  these  were  the  most  emi- 
nent literary  men  of  that  State.  I  cannot  doubt  that 
they  greatly  influenced  one  another  in  their  tastes  and 
studies,  for  I  have  seen  that  in  other  schools  and  societies. 

If  the  history  of  literature  and  science  be  ever  justly 
and  philosophically  written,  it  will  be  found  that  they 
owe  more  to  the  social  faculties  of  man,  than  man  owes 
to  them.  It  is  in  the  collision  of  minds  that  the  fire  of 
genius  is  struck  out.  It  is  in  the  communion  of  spirits 
that  there  bursts  out  from  the  cloud  those  flashings  of  a 
light  within,  which  gives  us  a  momentary  glance  at  what 
the  spirit  was  before  darkness  passed  over  Eden.  It  is 
the  mutual  hints,  the  continual  inquiries,  the  accretions 
from  different  minds,  the  brilliant  thought  gradually 
elaborated,  and  the  suggestions  of  excited  imagination, 
which  make  up  the  beautiful  woof  of  literature  and  the 
brightest  inventions  of  science.  The  solitary  student 
may  work  hard  and  well,  but  at  last,  unexcited  by  new 
suggestions  and  unsupported  by  kindly  praise,  he  droops 
upon  his  wing  and  tires  of  his  lonely  flight ! 

I  must  not  leave  these  meetings  without  recording 
another  characteristic  of  them,  and  of  Dr.  Drake. 
When,  after  one  or  two  seasons,  he  became  intensely 
interested  in  the  Medical  Department  of  Cincinnati 
College,  the  strictly  literary  character  of  these  meetings 

*  Mr.  Albert  Pickett,  who  was   almost  the  father  and  .head  of 
public  teachers  at  this  time. 


SOCIAL  QUALITIES  OF  DR.   DRAKE.  229 

gave  way  to  larger  and  more  general  assemblies,  embrac- 
ing other  classes  of  mind.  In  these  meetings,  as  in 
fact  in  all  the  after  part  of  his  life,  he*  was  fond  of 
recurring  to  the  pioneer  customs,  and  of  reviving,  as  it 
were,  the  manners  and  memories  of  the  early  settlers. 
Himself  a  pioneer,  no  one  did  more  to  excite  and  pre- 
serve a  respect  for  their  lives  and  works.  He  had  good 
reason  to  know,  by  his  own  observation,  how  much  they 
had  achieved,  and  how  nobly  they  had  earned  the  respect 
of  posterity.  Not  only  the  mighty  forest  and  its  savage 
occupants  had  fallen  before  them,  but  in  the  midst  of 
that  forest  they  had  reared  the  hamlet,  town,  and  city ; 
the  school  giving  light  to  the  unlettered  minds,  and  the 
church  raising  its  anthems  of  praise  to  the  living  God. 
Here  were  political  institutions  which  surpassed  all  the 
wisdom  of  Greece,  and  here  were  a  people  whose  struc- 
ture of  greatness  was  built  on  these  works  and  institu- 
tions of  pioneer  planting.  They  are  worthy  of  memory. 
In  the  period  of  which  I  now  speak,  scarcely  any  of 
these  meetings  took  place  in  which  the  doctor  did  not 
in  some  way  remind  his  guests  of  early  customs.  The 
Buckeye,  being  the  supposed  emblem  of  the  State,  was 
a  favorite  term  and  symbol  with  him.  In  the  evening 
'he  would  frequently  have  a  large  buckeye  bowl  on  his 
table,  filled  with  some  innocent  beverage,  and  in  the 
season  of  it,  the  buckeye  blossom  and  branches  would 
be  overspread;  and  then  corn  bread  and  corn  cake 
might  be  found  by  its  side.  These  were  simple  matters, 
but  they  indicated  the  bent  of  his  mind,  and  gave  rise  to 
many  a  pleasant  little  speech.  With  all  this,  he  fur- 
nished what  was  more  and  better  than  all,  the  cheer- 
ful spirit,  the  warm  hospitality,  which  signalized  the 
pioneers  of  the  West. 


230  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

On  the  7th  of  April,  the  anniversary  of  the  first 
settlement  of  the  State,  he  was  more  than  once  the 
orator  of  the  occasion,  and  gave  to  it  all  the  interest 
which  genius  knows  how  to  throw  around  its  subject. 
The  West — the  green  and  beautiful  West — was  not  only 
his  home,  but  literally  his  love,  the  object  for  which  he 
lived  and  labored,  whose  rising  glory  he  beheld  with  de- 
light, and  whose  increasing  splendors  shone  upon  his 
brow  in  the  sunset  of  life.  How  much  the  West  owes 
to  him  will  not  be  known  now ;  but  when  what  he  has 
founded  and  begun  has  loomed  into  towering  magnitude, 
his  name  will  be  found  inscribed  in  the  imperishable 
granite  of  its  structure.  , 

About  the  year  1833,  was  founded  what  was  called  the 
"  COLLEGE  OF  TEACHERS,"  which  continued  ten  years, 
and  was  an  institution  of  great  utility  and  wide  influence. 
Its  object  was  both  professional  and  popular ;  to  unite 
and  improve  teachers,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  com- 
mend the  cause  of  education  to  the  public  mind.  The 
former  object  might  have  been  obtained  by  the  meeting 
of  practical  teachers  only ;  but  the  latter  required  that 
gentlemen  of  science  and  general  reputation,  who  had 
weight  with  the  community,  should  also  be  connected 
with  it.  Accordingly,  a  large  array  of  distinguished 
persons  took  part  in  its  proceedings ;  and  I  doubt  whether 
in  one  association,  and  in  an  equal  space  of  time,  there 
was  ever  concentrated  in  this  country,  a  larger  measure 
of  talent,  of  information,  and  of  zeal.  Among  those 
who  either  spoke  or  wrote  for  it,  were  ALBERT  PICKETT, 
the  President,  and  for  half  a  century  an  able  teacher, 
Dr.  DRAKE,  the  Hon.  THOMAS  SMITH  GRIMKE,  the  Eev. 
JOSHUA  L.  WILSON,  ALEXANDER  KINMONT,  and  JAMES 
H.  PERKINS,  (all  of  whom  are  dead,)  Professor  STOWE, 


COLLEGE  OF  TEACHERS.  231 

Dr.  BEECHEE,  Dr.  ALEXANDER  CAMPBELL,  Arch  Bishop 
PURCELL,  President  McGuFFEY,  Dr.  AYDELOTTE,  Mrs. 
LYDIA  SIGOURNEY,  and  Mrs.  CAROLINE  LEE  HENTZE. 

With  these  were  numerous  professors,  teachers,  and 
citizens,  zealous  for  the  promotion  of  education,  most  of 
whom  contributed  more  or  less  to  the  transactions  of  the 
college.  These  transactions  were  for  several  years  em- 
bodied in  annual  volumes,  in  which  may  be  found  many 
able  and  eloquent  treatises  on  various  subjects.  The 
duty  of  organization  and  publication,  in  fact  that  of 
practically  sustaining  the  association,  fell  mainly  on  the 
working  teachers  of  Cincinnati,  and  for  this  reason, 
probably,  it  ultimately  died  away  and  lost  its  popular 
character.  The  associations  of  practical  teachers  have 
taken  its  place,  and  been,  beyond  doubt,  useful  and 
instructive  to  the  teachers.  Yet  there  is  wanting  some 
popular  means  of  connecting  teachers  with  the  great 
public ;  and  I  am  convinced  that  the  College  of  Teach- 
ers, and  of  literary  men,  was  the  best  reunion  of  this 
sort  yet  devised,  and  for  which  no  substitute  has  been 
found.  I  have  observed  that  while  all  trades  and  pro- 
fessions need,  for  certain  purposes,  associations  within 
themselves,  yet  that  in  those  associations  they  never 
rise  above  themselves.  It  all  smells  of  the  shop.  To 
improve  individually,  or  to  elevate  a  class,  there  must 
be  the  communion  of  various  minds.  There  must  be 
ideas  from  without  as  well  as  within.  The  human  spirit, 
like  a  plant,  needs  a  genial  soil,  and  draws  nutriment 
from  the  whole  atmosphere.  To  nurture  it  with  only 
one  element,  and  cast  it  off*  from  all  its  natural  surround- 
ings, is  to  dwarf  its  growth,  and  while  it  may  be  perfect 
of  its  kind,  is  to  render  that  kind  below  the  magnitude 
and  elevation  to  which  it  might  have  aspired. 


232 


UFB   OF  DE.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 


In  the  meetings  and  objects  of  the  College  of  Teach- 
ers, Dr.  Drake  felt  profound  interest,  and  took  an  active 
part.  The  very  name  of  teacher  was  dear  to  him.  To 
be  a  teacher  in  his  own  profession,  he  thought  to  be  his 
peculiar  gift ;  nor  did  he  confine  himself  to  that  only  ;  he 
sought  the  society  of  clergymen,  of  professors,  teachers, 
in  fine,  of  all  who  by  teaching  sought  to  improve  and 
regenerate  the  race.  In  the  early  meetings  of  the  college 
he  took  part,  and  in  its  proceedings  are  recorded  several 
valuable  lectures  and  reports  from  his  pen. 

In  the  session  of  October,  1834,  Dr.  Drake  pronounced 
a  very  elaborate  "  discourse  on  the  Philosophy  of  Family, 
School,  and  College  Discipline."  This  was  one  of  the  best 
written  and  ablest  of  his  occasional  productions.  It  may 
be  found,  at  full  length,  in  the  second  published  volume 
of  the  transactions  of  the  College  of  Teachers,  for  the  year 
1834.  The  peroration  is  a  fair  sample  of  his  spirit  and 
style.  After  recapitulating  the  principles  of  the  discourse, 
he  says,  that  they  are  particularly  adapted  to  the  West, 
and  proceeds  thus : 

"  The  West  will  not  go  backward  in  numbers — no,  not 
till  the  great  rivers  shall  turn  from  the  sea,  and  seek  its 
icy  cataracts  among  our  distant  hills.  Forward  will  be 
her  march — and  day  after  day  must  add  to  her  physi- 
cal strength;  but  she  should  not  rejoice  in  this  power,  and 
become  the  mammoth  of  the  Union,  or  the  bones  of  her 
prosperity  will,  at  last,  be  unburied  in  the  vallies,  and 
mingle  with  those  of  her  lost  archetype. 

"  Let  all  those  who  love  its  name — who  beholding  it,  in 
the  dim  and  distant  future,  can  now  take  delight  in  the 
strength  and  beauty  which  should  mark  its  perfect 
growth;  or  mourn,  while  the  day  is  yet  afar  off,  at  the 
vice  and  anarchy ',  which  may  overwhelm  it,  as  the  angry 


COLLEGE   OF   TEACHERS.  233 

snows  of  the  mountain  dissolve  and  swell  with  troubled 
waters  the  peaceful  Ohio,  till  they  deluge  our  pleasant 
places,  and  rush  in  desolation  along  our  streets.  Let  all 
wrho  feel  proud  that  the  voice  of  its  infancy  lias  called 
the  enterprising  stranger  from  lands  beyond  the  sea — 
from  the  isles  of  Britain — from  the  banks  of  the  Danube 
and  the  valleys  of  the  Alps — from  the  frozen  coasts  of  the 
Baltic  and  the  classic  shores  of  the  Mediterranean — from 
the  olive  and  the  vine — to  build  his  cabin  beneath  our 
embowering  sycamores.  Let  all  who  would  rejoice  to  see 
it,  not  only  the  asylum  of  the  exile  from  the  uttermost 
parts  of  an  oppressed  world,  but  the  chosen  and  perma- 
nent abiding  place  of  knowledge,  religion,  and  liberty, 
stand  forth  while  it  is  yet  in  the  morning  of  its  days,  and 
will  bow  its  head  to  the  rod  of  discipline,  to  lend  a  help- 
ing hand  in  training  its  young  footsteps,  and  giving  them 
an  impulse  on  the  paths  of  loveliness,  and  peace." 

In  the  course  of  debates  on  public  education,  the 
powers  of  government  over  the  schools  were  sometimes 
discussed.  In  one  of  these  discussions,  Dr.  Drake  took 
the  ground,  that  education  of  some  kind  should  be  com- 
pulsory ;  that  is,  that  no  man,  in  a  republic,  had  the  right 
to  bring  his  children  up,  in  primitive  and  absolute  igno- 
rance. His  view  was  thus  expressed  :* 

"  Cities  are  justly  said  to  be  the  grand  sources  from  which 
vice  and  immorality  flow  upon  the  country ;  the  foci 
whence  the  principles  of  wickedness  and  crime  are  radi- 
ated far  and  wide.  But  henceforth,  let  it  be  said,  that 
'where  sin  aboundeth  grac$  doth  much  more  abound.3 
If  we  have  sent  forth,  from  the  fountains  of  wickedness 
and  pollution,  with  which  our  city  abounds,  the  streams 
of  moral  death  and  desolation,  let  us  now  send  out  streams 

*  Transactions  of  the  College  of  Teachers. 

20 


234:  LIFE   OF  DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

of  moral  life,  peace,  and  happiness,  from  the  pure  springs 
of  benevolence  and  intelligence,  with  which  our  city  also 
abounds — intelligence  elevated  and  sanctified  by  the  holy 
principles  of  divine  revelation.  All  concur  in  the  opinion 
that  a  better  system  of  public  instruct  ion  is  necessary; 
let  us,  also,  concur  in  a  sense  of  the  great  responsibility 
which  rests  upon  us,  and  co-operate  in  efforts  to  promote 
this  grand  object.  Such  a  system  can  never  be  reared 
or  nurtured  in  the  country.  It  can  be  organized  and 
cherished  in  towns  and  cities, only,  and  from  them  im- 
parted to  the  surrounding  country.  Let  us  not,  then, 
suppose  it  sufficient  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  object, 
that  we  have,  at  various  meetings,  passed  many  good 
resolutions,  and  embellished  our  city  with  such  edifices, 
devoted  to  common  school  education,  as  are  not  to  be 
found  elsewhere  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Let  us 
not  for  a  moment  indulge  the  thought  that  we  have  fin- 
ished a  work  which  has  indeed  only  been  begun.  Am- 
pler views  and  a  more  liberal  policy  should  characterize 
our  efforts.  Our  system  must  be  made,  practically,  to 
embrace  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  It  must  confer  ben- 
efits upon  them,  and,  at  the  same  time,  open  their  eyes  to 
the  value  of  the  benefactions.  The  people  of  the  country 
govern  the  Legislation  of  the  State ;  and  their  hearty  and 
enlightened  co-operation  must  be  secured,  or  the  great 
object  will,  finally,  be  lost,  by  a  change  in  the  public 
policy.  When  the  people  of  the  country  shall  become 
deeply  penetrated  with  the  value  of  that  education  which 
our  common  schools  may  be  made  to  confer,  the  public 
sentiment  of  Ohio  will  be  sound,  and  her  systems  of  in- 
struction raised  above  the  region  of  popular  caprice.  I 
do  not  despair  of  seeing  public  opinion  thus  moulded  and 
elevated;  when  the  philanthropist  will  be  placed  on  a 


ON  EMULATION.  235 

higher  level,  and  may  hope  to  accomplish  objects,  which, 
at  the  present  time,  would  be  regarded  as  impracticable, 
and,  perhaps,  incompatible  with  the  genius  of  republic- 
anism. Of  this  kind  would  be  a  law  to  compel  every 
man,  either  in  the  free  schools  or  elsewhere,  to  give  his 
children  such  an  amount  of  education  as  would  fit  them, 
at  least,  for  the  proper  discharge  of  their  political  duties. 
I  am  aware  of  the  jealousy  of  the  people  on  the  subject 
of  compulsory  laws ;  and  do  not  consider  the  college,  as 
in  the  slightest  degree  responsible  for  the  opinions  which, 
as  an  humble  individual,  I  am  now  putting  forth.  I  am 
not,  sir  a  civilian,  but  a  physician  ;  nevertheless,  I  have 
ventured  on  the  conclusion,  that  a  law  requiring  all 
parents  to  educate  their  children  in  certain  branches, 
provided  public  schools  be  established,  is  in  strict  accord- 
ance with  the  spirit  of  our  constitutions,  and  the  most 
certain  means  of  perpetuating  them." 

In  the  session  of  1836,  Dr.  Drake  read  a  "  Eeport  on 
the  Study  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology,  as  a  branch  of 
Common  School  Education."  The  introduction  of  this 
study  he  advocated,  in  a  modified  form,  and  subse- 
quently went  so  far  as  to  prepare  and  print  some  sheets 
of  a  primary  school  book  on  this  subject.  He  did  not, 
however,  pursue  it,  and  his  plan  was  abandoned. 

In  the  discussions  of  the  College  of  Teachers,  he  took 
an  active  part,  and,  throughout  its  sessions,  was  one  of 
the  most  useful  and  instructive  members.  Among  these 
discussions,  was  a  very  interesting  one  on  the  question, 
whether  excitements  to  emulation  was  an  admissible 
means  of  education?  On  this  subject  there  are  various 
opinions.  Dr.  Beecher,  to  whom  this  topic  had  been 
committed,  (in  connection  with  others  on  the  committee,) 
made  a  report  against  the  admission  of  emulation  in 


236  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DKAKE. 

any  form.  The  other  members  of  the  committee,  consist- 
ing of  Mr.  Pickett,  Dr.  Drake,  and  President  McGuffey, 
made  a  counter  report,  the  leading  idea  of  which  was 
in  these  words:  "That  we  regard  emulation,  or  the  love 
of  comparative  excellence,  as  an  original  principle  of  the 
human  mind,  implanted  in  it  by  the  Creator  for  valuable 
purposes,  and  never  injurious  to  the  character  of  the 
individual,  except  when  the  moral  and  social  principles 
are  not  cultivated  so  as  adequately  to  restrain  it." 

The  college  did  not  adopt  either  report,  but  simply 
passed  a  resolution  that  rewards  to  merit  was  a  right 
and  proper  means  of  education.* 

In  this  place,  it  is  proper  to  mention  some  of  those 
who  took  an  active  part  in  the  College  of  Teachers,  but 
are  now  dead.  Many  of  the  living  had  a  larger  share 
in  its  transactions  than  those  I  shall  mention,  but  they 
are  yet  on  the  theatre  of  action,  and  their  reputation 
speaks  for  them. 

Dr.  JOSHUA  L.  WILSON  was  a  pioneer  in  the  church, 
as  well  as  the  settlement  of  Cincinnati.  He  was  not 
the  first  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  but  was  the 
longest  in  service ;  I  think  he  was  about  forty  years  the 
minister  of  the  first  church.  When  he  began  his 
labors  here,  there  was  but  one  Presbyterian  church; 
when  he  died,  there  were,  of  all  kinds,  fifteen.  The 
city  he  found  a  village  of  1,000  inhabitants,  and  left  it, 
at  his  death,  with  100,000.  In  this  period,  Dr.  Wilson 
maintained  throughout  the  same  uniform  character,  and 
the  same  inflexible  firmness  in  principle.  He  was  a 
man  of  ardent  temperament,  with  great  energy  and 
decision  of  character.  The  principles  he  once  adopted, 

*  This  resolution  was  adopted,  on  my  motion,  and  cut  off  the 
adoption  of  the  other  reports. 


JOSHUA  L.   WILSON.  237 

he  held  with  indomitable  courage  and  unyielding 
tenacity.  He  was  not  only  a  Presbyterian,  but  one  of 
the  strictest  sect.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  he 
contended  with  earnestness  for  what  he  thought  "the 
faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  and  that  in  this  he 
sometimes  appeared  as  much  of  the  soldier  as  the  saint. 
In  consequence  of  these  characteristics,  many  persons 
supposed  him  a  harsh  or  bigoted  man.  But  this  was  a 
mistake,  unless  to  be  in  earnest  is  harshness,  and  to 
maintain  one's  principles  bigotry.  On  the  contrary,  Dr. 
Wilson  was  kind,  charitable,  and,  in  those  things  he 
thought  right,  liberal.  Among  these  was  the  great 
cause  of  popular  education.  Of  this  he  was  a  most 
zealous  advocate,  but  demanded  that  education  should 
be  founded  on  religion,  and  the  Bible  should  be  a  pri- 
mary element  in  all  public  education.  At  the  session 
of  the  College  of  Teachers  in  1836,  Dr.  Wilson  delivered 
an  address  on  the  proposition,  that  "a  thorough  system 
of  universal  instruction  is  not  only  desirable,  but  prac- 
ticable." He  closed  the  address  with  these  remarks, 
which  may  be  taken  as  an  example  of  his  style  and 
sentiments : 

"  But  to  sum  up  what  I  have  said — c  God  has  made 
of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men.'  These  natures  of  ours, 
which  climate,  custom,  language,  and  religion,  have 
made  appear  so  opposite,  are  formed  after  the  same 
image.  Is  the  rude  Hottentot  superior  to  the  ape  ?  It 
is  because  he  is  a  man,  and  not  a  brute.  Is  the  civilized 
man  superior  to  the  Hottentot?  It  is  because  he  is 
instructed  and  educated.  Is  the  Christian  superior  to 
the  Pagan  ?  It  is  because  he  knows  the  Bible  and  its 
divine  Author.  Correct  instruction  raises  a  man  above 
the  degrading  dominion  of  sense — teaches  him  to  respect 


238  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

the  voice  of  reason — reminds  him  of  the  necessity  of 
subordination  to  constituted  authorities — convinces  him 
how  much  individual  happiness  is  secured  by  submission 
to  good  laws — and  even  expands  his  selfish  feelings  into 
the  purest  patriotism.  It  is  instruction  which  leads  man 
to  understand  the  ties  which  unite  him  with  his  friends, 
with  his  kindred,  with  the  great  family  of  man,  made 
up  of  all  families ;  it  makes  his  bosom  glow  with  social 
tenderness,  and  enables  him  to  gather  his  purest  happi- 
ness from  blessing  others,  and  seeing  others  blest.  It  is 
right  instruction  that  elevates  the  thoughts  of  man 
towards  his  Creator,  gives  constancy  to  virtue  in  the 
midst  of  trials,  screens  the  mind  in  the  hour  of  tempta- 
tion, and  leads  to  the  repose  of  piety  in  the  wisdom, 
goodness,  and  omnipotence  of  God." 

ALBERT  PICKETT,  President  of  the  College  of  Teach- 
ers, was  a  venerable  grey  haired  man,  who  had  been  for 
near  fifty  years  a  practical  teacher.  He  had  many  years 
kept  a  select  school  or  academy  in  New  York,  in  which, 
I  gathered  from  his  conversation,  many  of  the  most  emi- 
nent literary  men  of  New  York  had  received  their  early 
education.  He  removed  to  Cincinnati  a  few  years  be- 
fore the  period  of  which  1  speak,  and  established  a  select 
school  for  young  ladies.  He  was  a  most  thorough 
teacher,  and  a  man  of  clear  head,  and  filled  with  zeal 
and  devotion  for  the  profession  of  teaching.  He  was  a 
simple-minded  man  ;  and  I  can  say  of  him,  that  I  never 
knew  a  man  of  more  pure,  disinterested  zeal  in  the 
cause  of  education.  He  presided  in  the  college  with 
great  dignity,  and  in  all  the  petty  controversies  which 
arose,  poured  oil  on  the  troubled  waters. 

ALEXANDER  KINMONT  might  be  called  an  apostle  of 
classical   learning.      If   others   considered   the  classics 


ALEXANDER  KINMONT.  239 

necessary  to  an  education,  he  thought  them  the  one  thing 
needful — the  pillar  and  the  foundation  of  solid  learning. 
For  this  he  contended  with  the  zeal  of  martyrs  for  their 
creed ;  and  if  ever  the  classics  received  aid  from  the 
manner  in  which  they  were  handled,  they  received  it 
from  him.  He  was  familiar  with  every  passage  of  the 
great  Greek  and  Roman  authors,  and  eloquent  in  their 
praise.  When  he  spoke  upon  the  subject  of  classical 
learning,  he  seemed  to  be  animated  with  the  spirit  of  a 
mother  defending  her  child.  He  spoke  wTith  heart- warm 
fervor,  and  seemed  to  throw  the  wings  of  his  strong  in- 
tellect around  his  subject.  Mr.  Kinmont  was  a  Scotch- 
man, born  near  Montrose,  Angusshire.  He  very  early 
evinced  bright  talents,  and,  having  but  one  arm,  at 
about  twelve  years  of  age,  was  providentially  compelled 
to  pursue  the  real  bent  of  his  taste  and  genius  towards 
learning.  In  school  and  college  he  bore  off  the  first 
prizes,  and  advanced  with  rapid  steps  in  the  career  of 
knowledge.  At  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  which  he 
had  entered  while  yet  young,  he  became  tainted  with  the 
scepticism  then  very  prevalent.  Removing  soon  after  to 
America,  he  became  principal  of  the  Bedford  Academy, 
^where  he  shone  as  a  superior  teacher.  There  also,  he 
emerged  from  the  gloom  and  darkness  of  scepticism  to  the 
faith  and  fervor  of  the  "  New  Church,"  as  the  church 
founded  on  the  doctrines  of  Swedenborg  is  called.  His 
vivid  imagination  was  well  adapted  to  receive  their  doc- 
trine, and  he  adopted  and  advocated  them  with  all  the 
fervor  of  his  nature. 

In  1827  he  removed  to  Cincinnati,  and  established  a 
select  academy  for  the  instruction  of  boys  in  mathemati- 
cal and  classical  learning.  The  motto  he  adopted,  was 


24:0  LIFE  OF   DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

"sit  glorice  Dei,  et  utilitate  hominum;"  a  motto 
which  does  honor  both  to  his  head  and  heart.  * 

In  1834-35,  he  appeared  before  the  College  of  Teach- 
ers in  opposition  to  the  doctrines  of  Mr.  Grinke,  which 
were  in  favor  of  an  American  education,  as  he  termed 
it,  in  opposition  to  the  recognized  and  almost  universal 
basis  of  instruction — mathematics  and  the  classics.  On 
this  occasion  he  rose  to  the  highest  style  of  oratory,  and 
swinging  his  one  arm  about,  and  throwing  his  eyes  up 

"  In  a  fine  phrenzy  rolling, " 

he  seemed  like  the  spirit  of  one  of  the  ancient  Myths, 
or  of  those  who  haunt  the  woods  of  Parnassus,  or  the 
springs  of  Helicon.  The  midnight  hour  came  and 
went  before  his  enchained  audience  thought  of  time  or 
weariness. 

In  1837-38  he  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on  the 
"  Natural  History  of  Man,"  which  was  published  as  a 
posthumous  work ;  for  in  the  miJst  of  the  labor  of  its 
preparation  he  died. 

Kinmont  made  a  profound  impression  upon  those  who 
knew  him  ;  and  to  me  he  had  the  air  and  character  of  a 
man  of  superior  genius,  and,  (what  is  very  rare,)  of  one 
whose  learning  was  equal  to  his  genius. 

JAMES  H.  PERKINS  took  little  part  in  the  college,  but 
was  one  of  the  literary  circle  of  which  it  was  mainly 
constituted.  He  was  highly  educated,  came  out  to  Cin- 
cinnati as  a  lawyer,  was  a  year  or  two  editor  of  the 
Chronicle,  and,  finally,  minister  of  the  Unitarian  Church 
in  this  city,  where  he  made  a  strong  impression.  He 
died  young,  and  was  mo^t  profoundly  lamented  by  a 

*  Biographical  notice  attached  to  the  Natural  History  of  Man. 


JAMES   H.    PEKKINS.  241 


large  circle  of  friends,  and  held  in  honorable  memory  by 
the  community  in  which  he  had  lived.  As  a  writer,  Mr. 
Perkins  was  remarkably  graceful  and  easy,  and  some  of 
his  short  articles  were  as  popular  as  any  written  in  the 
country.  One  in  particular,  I  remember,  was  published 
in  the  Chronicle,  called  the  "  Hole  in  my  Pocket."  That 
article  must,  I  think,  have  been  published  in  nearly 
every  newspaper  in  America.  Years  after  it  was  first 
published,  I  saw  it  in  our  exchange  papers  floating 
about. 

For  one  work  of  his,  entitled  i(  Annals  of  the  West," 
the  future  historian  should  be  grateful.  It  is  the  only 
complete  and  thoroughly  accurate  annals  of  the  West  I 
know  of;  and,  though  by  no  means  a  history  in  itself, 
furnishes  abundant  materials  of  history.  Mr.  Perkins 
was  not  an  idler,  but  was  not  very  energetic  in  his 
labors;  so  that,  except  the  "Annals  of  the  West,"  he 
left  nothing  which  might  be  called  a  monument  to  his 
literary  labors. 

In  character  Mr.  Perkins  was  simple,  frank,  and 
honest.  His  disingenuousness  was  quite  remarkable. 
His  habits  were  plain,  and  he  was  far  more  the  student 
than  the  man  of  the  world.  Thoughtful,  studious,  and 
unpretending,  he  was  one  to  be  admired  by  those  who 
saw,  and  were  weary  with,  so  much  of  the  opposite  char- 
acteristics in  the  great  world  about  them.  For  several 
years  he  acted  as  a  "  minister  at  large  "  in  Cincinnati, 
and  his  ministrations  were  chiefly  among  the  sick  and 
poor.  Here  it  was  that  he  manifested  more  clearly  his 
real  character, — that  of  an  active  and  positive  benevo- 
lence. The  poor  blest  him,  the  public  praised,  and  he 
went  about  doing  good,  with  the  light  of  loveliness 
shining  on  his  path. 

21 


24:2  LIFE  OF   DR.    DANIEL   DKAKB. 

THOMAS  SMITH  GEIMKE  appeared  before  the  College 
of  Teachers  but  once.  He  was  a  most  remarkable  man, 
and  probably  much  better  known  in  South  Carolina  and 
in  New  England,  than  he  is  here.  A  most  devoted  Chris- 
tian and  a  thorough  American,  he  had  formed  some  very 
peculiar  theories  of  education,  flowing  from  the  ultraism 
of  these  ideas.  The  classics,  he  held,  should  not  be 
taught  as  a  means  of  education,  because  they  were  the 
literature  of  heathenism,  and  inculcated  false  principles 
and  tastes.  The  study  of  Horace,  he  said,  had  given 
the  heroic  character  to  the  leading  men  of  South  Caro- 
lina, so  that  they  dwelt  in  the  ideality  of  a  false  heroism, 
rather  than  in  the  plain,  simple,  practical,  and  Christian 
sentiment  of  America.  Hence,  he  said,  flowed  the 
duel,  dissatisfaction  with  £he  Union,  and  the  outbreak  of 
nullification. 

Against  the  mathematics  he  protested  almost  equally 
strong.  He  thought  it  unnecessary  to  give  so  much  time 
to  the  study  of  abstract  science,  when  it  could  be  em- 
ployed on  the  Bible,  literature,  and  political  institutions. 

He  had  another  idea,  equally  ultra :  that  our  language 
should  be  spelled  according  to  the  sound,  after  the  ex- 
ample, I  believe,  of  that  monstrous  barbarism  called 
"  Fonetics."  Accordingly,  when  his  discourse  at  Oxford 
was  published,  it  came  disfigured  in  the  most  awful 
manner,  with  capitals  out  of  place  and  words  misspelled. 
In  this  he  was  the  greatest  loser,  for  the  address  was 
a  most  beautiful  one,  and  few  read  it. 

These  peculiarities,  however,  could  not  diminish  the 
high  regard  in  which  the  character  of  Mr.  Grimke  was 
held.  He  was  a  most  earnest  Christian,  a  man  of  pro- 
found thought,  of  excellent  learning,  and  of  a  noble, 
disinterested  conduct.  The  world  has  had  few  who  pos- 


THOMAS   SMITH   GKIMKE.  24:3 

Bessed  such  just  principles,  who  carried  them  so  com- 
pletely into  practice,  and  who  lived  so  much  for  man- 
kind— so  little  for  himself. 

His  religious  character  was  in  all  respects  extraordi- 
nary, and  carries  one  back  to  the  days  of  primitive 
Christianity.  His  discourses  on  science,  literature,  and 
religion,  (which  have  been  published  in  a  volume,)  are 
filled  with  the  spirit  of  his  piety,  turning  everything  to 
account  in  the  cause  of  religion.  His  labors  in  the  great 
cause  of  Christian  benevolence,  may  be  illustrated  by 
the  following  declaration  of  the  Charleston  Temperance 
Society,*  convened  on  the  occasion  of  his  decease,  that 
"he  was  emphatically  the  father  of  the  temperance 
movement  in  South  Carolina.  His  name  stands  at  the 
head  of  the  subscribers  to  the  original  temperance  so- 
ciety, whose  constitution  was  drawn  up  by  his  own 
hand."  He  was  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  church, 
and  adorned,  by  his  life  and  conversation,  the  doctrine 
he  professed.  In  relation  to  this  subject,  as  well  as 
others,  he  however  maintained  some  peculiar  opinions. 
He  believed  it  the  duty  of  every  Christian,  ecclesiastic 
or  layman,  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature,  and 
authorised  to  administer  the  ordinances  of  religion.  He 
acted  throughout  as  if  things  were  as  they  should  50, 
and  not  as  they  are.  He  worked  to  make  the  world 
altogether  righteous  by  means  which  supposed  it  already 
such.  He  was  said  to  have  been  originally  of  irritable 
temperament,  yet  he  had  subdued  it  into  thS  blandness 


*  Biographical  notice  of  Thomas  Smith  Grimke,  by  Edward  D. 
Mansfield,  in  the  Transactions  of  the  College  of  Teachers  ;  Vol.  4, 
page  319. 


24:4  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

and  courtesy  of  the  perfect  Christian.     Of  him  it  was 
truly  said : 


-  Of  those 


That  build  their  monuments  where  virtue  builds, 
Art  thou  ;  and  gathered  to  thy  rest,  we  deem 
That  thou  wast  lent  us  just  to  show  how  blest 
And  lovely  is  the  life  that  lives  for  all." 

I  might  mention  various  other  individuals,  some  o* 
•whom  are  also  dead  (such  as  Lewis,  Ray,  and  Mathews), 
who  took  part  in  the  highly  interesting  discussions  and 
intellectual  excitement  which  attended  the  annual  meet- 
ings of  the  College  of  Teachers,  but  they  would  carry 
me  away  from  my  main  theme,  the  life  and  services  of 
Dr.  Drake.  Of  him  I  can  say,  in  connection  with  this 
subject,  that  the  college  had  no  more  ardent  friend  or 
active  member  than  he  ;  and  if  he  had  any  other  life- 
long mistress  of  his  mind  than  medicine,  it  was  popular 
education.  In  another  place  I  have  related  how  quickly 
he  perceived  and  how  keenly  he  felt  the  deficiencies  of  his 
own  profession  in  early  instruction  ;  and  no  one,  who  like 
him,  is  a  close  observer  of  mankind,  can  fail  to  notice 
and  lament  that  ignorance  is  the  prevailing  quality  of 
the  multitude.  Those  who  are  highly  and  systematically 
instructed  are  few  and  far  between.  While  this  remains 
the  great  fact  in  the  social  history  of  man,  a  Christian 
and  scientific  education  for  the  people,  wrill  remain 
the  greatest  want  of  society,  and  the  noblest  object  of 
benevolence. 

The  ^College  of  the  People"*  is  the  great  college  for 

*  The  term  "  College  of  the  People  "  has  become  popular  and  com- 
mon. I  am  not  aware  that  it  was  used  by  any  one  prior  to  my  use 
of  it  in  1834,  before  the  College  of  Teachers,  and  I  am  disposed  to 
claim  my  own  property. 


THE   COLLEGE   OF   TEACHERS.  245 

the  times,  and  it  is  most  pleasing  to  see  that,  by  the 
union  of  public  and  private  charities,  the  people  of  Cin- 
cinnati, (in  addition  to  their  excellent  system  of  common 
schools,)  will  have,  in  the  Hughes  and  Woodward  High 
Schools,  real  colleges  of  the  people,  capable  of  affording 
the  highest  education  to  both  sexes.  If  they  be  kept  on 
Christian  foundation,  and  be  not  carried  away  with  the 
wild  theories  and  imaginations  of  "  science— -falsely  so 
called  " — they  wrill  become  the  pillars  of  a  sound  and 
enlightened  society. 

In  the  College  of  Teachers  were  discussed  questions 
of  magnitude,  upon  some  of  which  different  sections  of 
the  community  have  since  divided  and  become  opposed 
in  all  the  heat  of  controversy.  One  of  these  was  the 
Bible  question.  I  remember  well,  that  on  one  occasion 
this  question  was  ably  and  frankly  discussed,  in  the  most 
friendly  spirit,  by  the  late  Dr.  Wilson,  Bishop  Purcell, 
Dr.  Alexander  Campbell,  Professor  Stowe,  and  the  late 
Alexander  Kinmont.  At  the  same  session,  Dr.  Ayde- 
lotte's  Report  on  the  question — u  what  is  the  best  method 
of  prosecuting  the  Bible  in  common  schools,"  was  unani- 
mously adopted.  At  that  time  the  agitation  on  this  sub- 
ject had'  not  commenced,  and  the  Bible,  the  law  book 
and  text  book  of  all  Christians,  was  universally  agreed 
to  as  the  first  element  in  a  Christian  education. 

The  transactions  of  the  College  of  Teachers,  pub- 
lished in  some  five  or  six  volumes,  are  all  that  now 
remains  of  that  institution;  and  even  these  are  rarely 
met  with,  and  will  soon  be  found  only  in  libraries. 
It  was  a  means  of  great  intellectual  developement,  and 
I  am  well  convinced,  for  that  purpose,  the  best  Cincin- 
nati has  ever  had.  In  its  meetings  I  have  heard  such 
discussions  as  I  have  neither  heard  nor  read  of  else- 


24:6  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

where.  I  have  heard  ALEXANDER  KINMONT  keep  an 
audience  intensely  excited  till  past  midnight.  I  have 
heard  Dr.  DRAKE  in  his  most  eloquent  arid  animated 
strains;  Dr.  BEECHER  in  his  strength  and  fervor;  Dr. 
McGuFFEY  in  his  acute  and  logical  argument;  and 
Professor  STOWE  in  his  plain  yet  learned  criticism. 
In  listening  to  such  men  discuss  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant points  in  education,  connected  in  the  first  place 
with  the  metaphysics  of  the  human  mind,  and  then  with 
great  social  interests  to  flow  from  them,  I  have  received 
a  pleasure  and  a  benefit — in  vain  sought  among  the 
ordinary  pursuits  of  human  life.  The  memory  of  these 
discussions  lingers  in  my  mind,  and  calls  up  the  delight- 
ful company  of  friends,  and  the  intellectual  brilliance 
which  surrounded  them. 


CHAPTER  XI, 

Dr.  Drake's  Services  for  Internal  Improvement — His  Views  of  Ohio 
Canaling  in  the  "Picture  of  Cincinnati" — Takes  the  Initial  in  the 
Cincinnati  and  Charleston  Railway — Meeting  at  the  Exchange — 
Article  in  the  Western  Monthly  Review — Population  and  Business 
of  Cincinnati  in  1836 — Cincinnati  Committee  of  Internal  Im- 
provement— Knoxville  Convention — Traveling  on  the  Tennessee 
River — Dr.  Drake  on  Traveling — Colonel  Blanding — General 
Hayne — Public  Citizens  of  Cincinnati. 

THE  services  which  Dr.  Drake  rendered  to  the  cause 
of  internal  improvement,  should  not  go  unnoticed  by  the 
community  which  has  profitted  so  largely  by  them.  In 
his  topographical  survey  of  the  Miami  country,  con- 
tained in  the  "Picture  of  Cincinnati,"  he  gave  the  out- 
line of  the  canal  routes,  which  have  since  been  adopted. 
It  is  quite  remarkable  that,  in  that  work,  published  in 
1815,  he  pointed  out  distinctly  all  the  canals  which  have 
since  been  made  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  connect- 
ing the  waters  of  the  Lakes  and  the  Ohio.  *  I  do  not 
suppose  that  the  suggestion  of  these  was  entirely  original 
with  him,  for  the  subject  had,  doubtless,  been  talked 
over  previously.  But  if  there  be  any  prior  publication 
of  them,  I  know  not  where  to  find  it.  Not  only  were 
the  routes  pointed  out,  but  the  peculiar  advantages  and 
resources  of  the  country,  for  such  enterprises,  were  fully 
delineated.  Knowing  that  he  was  then  in  the  society 
of  gentlemen  of  science  and  of  topographical  informa- 
tion, and  sagacious  views,  I  think  it  probable  that  these 
views  were  entertained  by  others,  with  whom  he  con- 
versed; but  they  were  published  in  the  "Picture  of 

247 


248  LIFE   OF  DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

Cincinnati,"  and  have  since  been  adopted,  and  the  works 
carried  into  execution.  The  ideas  of  public  works  were 
then  upon  a  diminutive  scale,  and  the  doctor  supposed 
that  the  ridges  which  intervened  between  such  streams 
as  the  Cuyahoga  and  Tuscarawas,  were  to  be  overcome 
by  portages,  which  was  the  old  French  method. 
Science,  however,  has  overcome  such  difficulties,  and 
made  our  magnificent  canals  continuous  rivers  from  the 
Lakes  to  the  Ohio. 

The  routes  traced  out  by  him,  were : — 
First.  From  Presque  isle,  (Erie,)  by  French  creek,  to 
the  Allegheny. 

Second.  By  the  Cuyahoga  and  the  Tuscarawas. 
Third.  Between  the  Maudfee  and  the  Great  Miami. 
Fourth.  Between  the  Wabash  and  the  Maumee,  via. 
Fort  Wayne. 

Fifth.  Between  the  Chicago  and  Illinois  rivers. 
Sixth.  Between  the  Wisconsin  and  Fox  rivers. 
On  all  of  these  lines,  except  the  last,  canals  now  exist, 
and  transact  a  commerce  of  which  neither  he  nor  the 
most  far-seeing  men  of  the  nation  had,  at  that  time, 
the  least  thought.  He  foresaw  clearly  enough  the 
growth  and  power  of  the  West ;  but  did  not  foresee 
how  rapidly  and  wonderfully  commerce  and  the  arts 
would  now  be  developed.  This  was  seven  years  before 
the  law  was  passed  for  the  survey  of  the  Ohio  canals, 
and  ten  years  before  the  Erie  canal  of  New  York  was 
finished.  In  closing  his  article  on  this  subject,  Dr. 
DRAKE  says,  that  the  canal  from  the  Cuyahoga  to  the 
Muskingum  will  be  the  first  opened ;  and  that  its  utility 
to  Cincinnati  must  depend,  however,  on  another  work, 
which  is  a  canal  from  the  Great  Miami  to  Cincinnati. 
While  pointing  out  all  these  works  clearly,  he  had  not 


HIS   VIEWS   OF  OHIO   CANALING.  249 

yet  reached  the  great  plan,  which  is  now  executed, 
of  making  one  canal  from  Maumee  bay  to  Cincinnati. 
It  is  curious  to  observe,  as  we  can  do  clearly,  the  pro- 
cess by  which  even  the  most  enlightened  minds  grad- 
ually came  up  to  our  present  magnificent  expansion 
of  internal  commerce  and  artificial  navigation.  Dr. 
DKAKE,  in  common  with  all  others,  from  1810  to  1820, 
supposed  that  canals  would  be  made  along  the  valley 
of  streams,  but  that  the  higher  summits  must  be  crossed 
by  portages;  and  that  such  streams  as  the  Great  Miami 
should  be  improved  and  made  navigable  for  boats. 
Indeed,  prior  to  the  construction  of  the  canals,  the 
chief  means  of  conveying  off  the  produce  of  the  Miami, 
Scioto,  and  Muskingum  valleys,  was  by  means  of  boats 
descending  these  streams  in  the  spring  floods,  an  ope- 
ration performed  with  extreme  danger,  and  frequent  loss. 
The  man  who  should  do  that  now,  would  be  deemed 
scarcely  less  than  insane. 

Dr.  Drake  seemed  to  advance  the  scheme  of  a  canal 
from  Cincinnati  to  the  Miami  with  great  caution,  as  if  it 
was  one  of  great  hazard.  lie  pointed  out,  however,  the 
precise  route  on  which  the  canal  is  now  located,  from 
Hamilton,  through  the  valley  of  Mill  creek,  and  con- 
ducted along  the  base  of  the  highlands  which  border  the 
site  of  the  towns  on  the  north,  to  the  valley  of  Deer 
creek,  through  which  it  would  reach  the  Ohio."  The 
time  when  this  can  be  done,  he  said,  cannot  be  foretold, 
but  such  was  the  rapid  growth  of  the  country,  that  he 
thought  the  time  could  not  be  remote.  He  adds,  "  The 
transportation  on  this  canal  and  the  Miami  above,  if  its 
navigation  were  somewhat  improved,  would,  in  less  than 
half  a  century,  be  great  indeed."  The  canal  was  finished 
to  Dayton  about  1828.  Half  a  century  from  that  will  ba 


250  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

about  1878.  There  is  a  strong  probability  that  in  less  than 
that  time  the  canal  will  be  extinct.  It  will  have  been 
made  far  beyond  the  magnitude  which  Dr.  Drake  im- 
agined, carried  on  a  commerce  which  he  had  not  dreamt 
of,  and  perished  under  the  rivalry  of  a  new  and  mighty 
invention,  of  which  neither  he  nor  others  had  thought  of. 

In  his  view  of  the  resources  of  the  Miami  valley,  and 
of  the  effect  of  artificial  navigation,  he  was  prophetically 
accurate.  Speaking  of  the  immediate  Miami  country,  he 
said  :  "  In  this  parallelogram  of  five  thousand  five  hun- 
dred square  miles,  there  is  no  part  which  is  not  suscepti- 
ble of  cultivation,  and  by  far  the  greater  part  is  equal  to 
any  land  in  the  United  States.  It  only,  therefore,  re- 
quires facilities  for  the  exportation  of  its  produce,  and 
the  importation  of  foreign  articles,  to  insure  for  it  a  very 
dense  population ;  and  such  facilities  would  be  afforded 
by  the  canal.  In  addition  to  this,  should  the  difficulties 
connected  with  the  navigation  of  the  Maumee  and  its 
branches  be  removed  at  the  same  time,  the  skins  and 
peltry,  the  fish,  and  perhaps  the  copper  of  the  North, 
would  reach  the  Ohio ;  and  the  cotton,  sugar,  tobacco, 
and  other  productions  of  the  South,  would  pass  into  the 
Lakes  through  the  same  channel." 

This,  and  much  more  than  this,  is  now  fulfilled.  The 
productions  of  the  South  are  carried  through  Cincinnati 
to  every  point  on  the  Lakes,  and  the  fish  is  daily  in  our 
markets,  and  the  copper  is  borne  on  our  canals.  But  all 
of  this  is  but  small  in  proportion  to  the  immense  amount 
of  surplus  products  of  the  soil  and  of  manufactured  arti- 
cles, which  are  carried  to  and  from  the  metropolis  of  Ohio. 

About  the  time  the  canals  were  finished  their  great 
enemy  arose,  in  the  form  of  a  rival  improvement.  In  1825 
the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Kail  way  astonished  tha 


RAILROAD   ENTERPRISES.  251 

world  with  the  demonstrated  fact,  that  steam  could  be 
made  both  powerful  and  profitable  in  the  movement  of 
cars  on  an  iron  rail.  From  that  moment  the  railway 
was  a  "fait  accompli  " — a  new,  wonderful,  enormous 
and  incalculable  element  in  the  physical  movement  of 
mankind.  The  acute  American  mind  was  not  dull  to  see 
that,  on  a  vast  continent  like  North  America,  filled  with 
great  inland  seas,  with  long  rivers,  navigable  for  thou- 
sands of  miles,  and  a  soil  of  inestimable  fertility,  there 
was  every  element  of  internal  commerce,  and,  therefore, 
the  very  country  where  steam  machinery  of  such  power 
and  velocity  as  the  railway  supplies,  could  be  made  of 
the  utmost  possible  use.  Accordingly,  such  lines  of  rail- 
way were  soon  proposed,  of  which  the  earliest  were  those 
professing  to  pierce  the  Alleghany  mountains,  and  con- 
nect the  cities  of  the  Atlantic  with  the  valley  of  the 
Ohio.  Among  these  was  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Kail- 
road,  which,  commenced  in  1828,  was  only  completed 
in  1853,  a  period  of  twenty-five  years  !  The  New  York 
and  Erie  Kailroad  was  commenced  in  1835,  but  only 
completed  in  1852,  seventeen  years.  It  was  about  1835, 
at  the  era  of  greatest  commercial  activity  and  enter- 
prise, that  the  public  mind  commenced  being  excited  on 
the  subject  of  railways.  The  plan  for  the  immense 
works  which  have  since  been  constructed  in  New  York, 
Ohio,  Georgia,  and  other  States  were  then  formed,  and 
with  only  occasional  interruptions,  the  .process  of  rail- 
way construction  has  continued  ever  since  with  unabated 
activity.  The  following  table  of  miles  of  railway,  con- 
structed in  the  la>t  twenty  years  within  the  United 
States,  will  exhibit  the  pi  odigious  magnitude  of  the  rail- 
way developments,  a  progress  in  physical  enterprise  which 
has  had  no  parallel  in  the  whole  history  of  mankind. 


252 


LIFE   OF  DB.    DANIEL  DRAKE. 


It  is  said  that  the  greatest  pyramid  of  Egypt  was  built  by 
one  of  the  Pharaohs  in  twenty  years.  But  what  were 
all  the  Memphian  pyramids,  considered  as  works  of  art 
and  labor,  compared  with  twenty  thousand  miles  of  rail- 
way, cutting  through  hills,  tunneled  through  mountains, 
bridged  over  rivers,  embanked  over  swamps,  laid  on 
iron,  and  traversed  with  the  rapidity  of  the  winds ! 

RAILWAYS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Miles.     States.  Miles. 

480       Amount  bro't  forward,  11,026 

South  Carolina 700 

909  Georgia 1,100 

1,212  Ohio 2,500 

Indiana 1,388 

739  Illinois 2,500 

2,779  Michigan 434 

457  Wisconsin 250 

2,500  Tennessee 350 

60  Kentucky 190 

240  Alabama 250 

1,300  Mississippi 150 

350  Louisiana 138 

Missouri..,  60 


States. 

Maine 

New  Hampshire  and  Ver- 
mont   

Massachusetts 

Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island 

New  York 

New  Jersey 

Pennsylvania 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Virginia , 

North  Carolina 


Amount  carried  forward,  11,026 

Aggregate  of  completed  Railways  in  1855 21,036 

It  was  in  1835,  that  Dr.  Drake  became  specially 
interested  in  the  construction  of  a  great  railway,  which 
should  connect  the  Ohio  valley,  at  Cincinnati,  with  the 
Atlantic,  at  Charleston.  In  the  summer  of  that  year,  a 
movement  had  been  made,  at  Paris,  (Ky.,)  towards  con- 
structing a  railroad  from  Cincinnati  to  that  fertile  region. 
In  connection  with  this  project,  a  public  meeting  was 
called,  at  the  Commercial  Exchange,  (Front  street.)  for 
the  purpose  of  promoting  the  construction  of  a  railroad 
from  Newport  or  Covington,  opposite  Cincinnati,  to 


BOUTHEKN   RAILWAY   SCHEME.  253 

Paris.  When  the  proceedings  on  this  subject  were  con- 
cluded, Dr.  Drake  offered  the  following  resolution: 

"Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed 
to  inquire  into  the  practicability  and  advantages  of  an 
extension  of  the  proposed  railroad  from  Paris  into  the 
State  of  South  Carolina." 

This  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted,  and  Dr. 
Drake,  Thomas  W.  Bokewell,  and  John  S.  Williams, 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  report  to  an  adjourned 
meeting,  to  be  held  one  week  later. 

This  meeting  and  resolutions  were,  as  far  as  I  know, 
the  initial  step  in  the  plan  of  constucting  a  great 
railway  between  Cincinnati  and  Charleston — a  plan 
which  has  not  been  fully  completed,  but  of  which  much 
has  been  accomplished,  and  the  whole  is  made  certain 
by  the  course  of  events.  I  say  this  because,  two  or 
three  years  after,  an  individual,  who  had  removed  from 
Charleston  to  Cincinnati,  and  found  the  scheme  popular 
in  the  South,  claimed  that  he  was  the  originator  and 
inventor  of  the  whole  project!  This  was  so  far  from 
being  the  case  that  no  public  mention  of  it  was  ever 
heard,  or  movement  made,  till  this  meeting  at  the 
Exchange.  Dr.  Drake,  in  a  letter  to  the  Charleston 
Mercury,  gave  the  true  history  of  the  affair,  and 
declared  that  he  never  claimed  that  this  project  might 
not  have  been  conceived  or  talked  of  by  other  persons, 
but  only  that  he  was  the  author  of  this  public  movement 
at  Cincinnati;  and  so  he  unquestionably  was.  This 
and  other  means  of  promoting  the  public  interest  were 
frequently  talked  over  by  Dr.  Drake  and  myself,  both  at 
that  time  and  in  subsequent  years. 

Prior  to  this  meeting,  I  had  written  for  the  Western 
Monthly  Magazine,  (edited  by  Judge  Hall,)  and 


251  LIFE  OF  DR.    DANIEL  DKAKE. 

published  in  the  month  of  August,  (but  not  prior  to  the 
meeting,)  an  article  on  a  southern  railway,  from  Cincin- 
nati. My  suggestion  was  to  pursue  the  route  now  pro- 
posed, to  Knoxville,  and  thence,  by  the  valleys  of  the 
Tennessee  and  the  Alabama,  to  Mobile,  looking  to  the 
trade  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  adjourned  meeting  of  citizens  was  held  at  the 
Exchange,  on  the  15th  of  August,  1835,  when  Dr. 
Drake  read  an  elaborate  and  argumentative  report, 
which  placed  the  whole  subject  in  a  clear  and  conclusive 
light.  Touching  upon  all  the  questions  of  practicability, 
of  commerce,  of  profit,  and  of  social  advantages,  he  had 
two  or  three  passages  of  great  power,  and  which  are  aa 
applicable,  and  more,  to  the  future,  as  they  were  then ; 
for  the  completion  of  this  great  work  still  lies  in  the 
future.  Those  passages  were  also  particularly  charac- 
teristic of  himself,  and  contain  ideas  which  he  again 
elaborated  in  a  subsequent  period. 

After  noticing  the  connection  which  would  be  made 
with  Eichmond,  from  Knoxville  through  the  valley,* 
with  Nashville,  by  the  same  route  continued,  and  with 
Georgia  by  Augusta,  he  proceeded  to  say  that  "the 
Miami  Canal  to  Lake  Erie,  the  Ohio  Canal  from  Forts- 
mouth,  and  the  Mad  River  and  Sandusky  Railroad,  from 
Dayton  to  the  Lake,  the  execution  of  which  had  com- 
menced, would  connect  it  with  the  entire  chain  of 
northern  lakes,  from  the  Falls  of  Niagara  to  the  Straits 
of  Mackinac,  and  even  Green  bay,  on  the  western 
shores  of  Lake  Michigan,  including  the  eastern  border 
of  Wisconsin  territory,  north  or  maritime  Illinois,  and 


*  At  the  distance  of  nearly  twenty  years,  this  work  is  drawing  to 
a  completion. 


SOUTHERN    RAILWAY. 


Indiana,  the  whole  of  Michigan  territory,  a  part  of 
Upper  Canada,  and  the  center  and  northern  declivity  of 
Ohio.  The  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal,  and  the  railroad 
from  Lawrenceburg,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami,  to 
Indianapolis,  already  begun,  would  carry  its  advantages 
into  the  depths  of  Indiana.  Lastly,  the  Ohio  river,  from 
Cincinnati  to  the  Mississippi,  would  connect  it  bene- 
ficially with  south  and  west  Illinois,  Missouri,  and  the 
immense  extent  of  unsettled  territory  watered  by  the 
Upper  Mississippi  and  Missouri  rivers.  Thus  the  pro- 
posed main  trunk,  from  Cincinnati  to  Charleston,  would 
resemble  an  immense  horizontal  tree^  extending  its 
roots  through  and  into  ten  States,  and  a  vast  expanse 
of  uninhabited  territory  in  the  northern  interior  of  the 
Union,  while  its  branches  would  wind  through  half  as 
many  populous  States  on  the  Southern  seaboard."* 

It  is  certainly,  remarkable,  that  all  the  collateral  rail- 
ways, and  all  the  advantages  here  described,  have  been 
realized,  while  the  main  trunk  itself  remains  unfinished ! 
If  the  road  to  Charleston  was  now  finished,  it  would 
connect  the  railways  of  twelve  States  west  and  south  of 
the  Alleghany  mountains!  It  would  connect,  by  single 
trunk  line,  ten  thousand  miles  of  railway ! 

Having  made  a  general  review  of  all  the  main  points 
of  this  enterprise,  he  concluded  the  report  with  a 
reference  to  the  social  and  political  advantages  which  it 
would  confer.  He  says : 

"What  is  now  the  amount  of  personal  intercourse 
between  the  millions  of  American  fellow-citizens  of 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  on  the 


*  Pamphlet;  'Railroad  from  the  Banks  of  the  Ohio  river  to  the 
Tide  Waters  of  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  Cincinnati,  1835." 


256  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

one  hand,  and  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  on 
the  other?  Do  they  not  live  and  die  in  ignorance  of 
each  other,  and,  perhaps,  with  wrong  opinions  and 
prejudices,  which  the  intercourse  of  a  few  years  would 
annihilate  forever  ?  Should  this  work  be  executed,  the 
personal  communication  between  the  North  and  the 
South  would  instantly  become  unprecedented  in  the 
United  States.  Louisville  and  Augusta  would  be 
brought  into  social  intercourse,  Cincinnati  and  Charles- 
ton be  neighbors,  and  parties  of  pleasure  start  from  the 
banks  of  the  Savannah  for  those  of  the  Ohio  river. 
The  people  of  the  two  great  valleys  would,  in  summer, 
meet  in  the  intervening  mountain  region  of  North  Caro- 
lina and  Tennessee,  one  of  the  most  delightful  climates 
of  the  United  States,  exchange  their  opinions,  compare 
their  sentiments,  and  blend  their  feelings.  The  North 
and  South  would,  in  fact,  shake  hands  with  each  other, 
yield  up  their  social  and  political  hostility,  pledge  them- 
selves to  common  national  interests,  and  part  as  friends 
and  brethren." 

The  sentiments  thus  advanced  were  those  upon  which 
Dr.  Drake  loved  to  dwell,  and  which  subsequently  made 
the  theme  of  one  or  two  discourses. 

This  report  was  unanimously  adopted,  and,  on  motion 
of  Dr.  Drake,  a  standing  committee  .of  inquiry  and  cor- 
respondence was  appointed  by  the  meeting,  which  con- 
sisted of  General  WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON,  Judge 
JAMES  HALL,  Dr.  DANIEL  DRAKE,  EDWARD  D.  MANS- 
FIELD, Esq.,  General  JAMES  TAYLOR,  of  Newport,  Dr. 
JOHN  W.  KING,  of  Covington,  GEORGE  A.  DUNN,  Esq.,  of 
Lawrenceburg.  I  mention  this  committee  more  particu- 
larly, because  they  did  much  to  excite  a  zeal  in  this  cause, 
both  North  and  South,  and  diffuse  information  concerning 


COMMITTEE   OF    INTERNAL    IMPROVEMENT.  257 

each  other,  through  those  wide  and  far-separated  regions 
of  country.  Being  appointed  the  secretary  of  the  com- 
mittee, I  know  that  an  extensive  correspondence  passed 
through  their  hands,  and  that  they  did  no  small  amount 
of  service  in  developing  a  knowledge  of  our  resources, 
and  awakening  a  zeal  for  public  works  which  has  ever 
since  prevailed.  At  this  meeting,  in  the  course  of  some 
remarks  in  support  of  Dr.  Drake's  reports,  I  said,*  "  I 
consider,  Sir,  the  initial  proceedings  now  in  progress  as 
the  commencement  of  a  new  era  in  the  commercial  his- 
tory and  prosperity  of  this  beautiful  region  of  country. 
It  harmonizes  with  the  general  spirit  of  physical  and 
social  improvement,  now  in  such  activity  through  our 
whole  country,  with  that  energy  of  enterprise  which  has 
sent  our  Atlantic  friends  in  search  of  new  courses  of 
trade,  till  they  have  stretched  their  long  arms  into  the 
remotest  corners  of  the  recent  wilderness,  and  are  gather- 
ing with  their  feelers  every  article  of  commerce,  with 
that  community  of  interest  which  is  uniting  the  most 
distant  sections  of  the  Union  in  the  nearness  of  neigh- 
borhood, and  the  unity  of  brethren."  Such  was  my 
view  at  that  time,  and  although  the  central  trunk  is  not 
completed  yet,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  its  comple- 
tion— which  must  now  soon  take  place — will  be  the 
signal  for  a  new  era  in  the  intercourse  of  the  South  and 
West,  and  this  meeting  was  in  fact  the  initial  of  a  great 
movement  in  the  construction  of  public  works,  which 
have  redounded  immensely  to  the  advantage  of  this  city 
and  country.  Subsequently,  at  a  meeting  of  the  general 
committee,  Dr.  Drake  and  myself  were  appointed  a 


*  Pamphlet,  "  Railroad  from  the  Banks  of  the  Ohio  river  to  the 
Tide  Waters  of  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia." 

22 


25S  LIFE   OF  DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

sub-committee  to  prepare  an  address,  and  map  accompa- 
nying it,  to  the  people  of  the  several  States  interested.  Dr. 
Drake  wrote  the  report,  and  I  made  the  map.  These, 
with  the  proceedings,  were  published  in  a  pamphlet 
form,  and  sent  forth  in  August,  1835. 

I  need  not  say,  for  it  is  well  known,  with  how  much 
zeal  and  earnestness  the  citizens  of  Charleston,  Savannah, 
and  Augusta,  and  the  States  of  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  adopted  this  plan,  and  with  what  energy  they 
carried  it  out.  The  magnificent  railway  enterprises, 
which  have  since  been  undertaken  and  completed  in 
those  States,  had  chiefly  for  their  basis  the  ultimate  con- 
struction of  that  great  work  which  should  connect  them 
with  the  valley  of  the  Ohio.  It  is  now  twenty  years 
since  this  plan  was  first  conceived,  and  the  public  mind 
interested  in  the  subject,  and  the  whole  work  is  not  yet 
completed.  From  Charleston  to  Knoxville,  however,  by 
the  Georgia  route,  through  Augusta  and  Atlanta,  is 
complete.  From  Cincinnati  to  Lexington  is  also  finish- 
ed, and  thus,  between  Cincinnati  and  Charleston,  on  a 
circuitous  route,  there  are  no  less  than  six  hundred  miles 
of  finished  railway.  Two  hundred  more  will  complete 
the  whole,  and  it  cannot  be  long  before  that  is  accom- 
plished. In  1836  I  was  repeatedly  asked,  "If  I  thought 
this  work  was  possible  ?  And  when  it  might  be  done  ? " 
I  uniformly  replied,  that  it  was  not  only  possible,  but 
would  certainly  be  done — that  it  was  in  fact  a  necessity 
of  the  country.  In  1836,  a  great  Southwestern  Conven- 
tion was  held  at  Knoxville  on  this  subject,  in  which  were 
delegates  from  nine  States,  viz:  Ohio,  Indiana,  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Alabama.  There  was  intense 
excitement  in  the  country  on  this  subject,  and  the  Con- 


KNOXVILLE   CONVENTION.  259 

vention  was  a  numerous  and  able  body.  The  delegates 
from  this  region  were  Governor  Vance,  Dr.  Drake,  Alex- 
ander McGrew,  Crafts  J.  Wright,  and  myself,  from  Ohio ; 
Gen.  James  Taylor,  M.  M.  Benton,  and  J.  G.  Arnold,  of 
Covington  and  Newport.  These  attended.  Others  were 
appointed  who  did  not  attend.  Dr.  Drake,  with  his 
daughters,  went  by  the  river  to  western  Tennessee  and 
Nashville,  while  the  rest  of  our  party  proceeded  directly 
by  stage  to  Knoxville.  At  Knoxville  we  all  met  in  the 
convention,  and  Dr.  Drake  took  a  very  conspicuous 
part  in  its  action.  In  the  convention  the  only  serious 
controversy  was  in  regard  to  the  termini  at  the  South, 
and  on  the  Ohio  river.  The  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
delegations  each  claimed,  with  great  pertinacity,  that 
they  had  the  best  route.  In  time  Georgia  has  fulfilled 
all  her  promises,  and  actually  arrived  at  Knoxville. 
Carolina  would  have  done  so,  but  for  the  failure  at  that 
time  of  the  whole  plan,  in  consequence  of  the  difficulties 
which  arose  in  Kentucky.  Maysville,  Lexington,  Cov- 
ington, and  Louisville,  each  contended  that  the  benefits 
of  the  road  should  enure  to  them.  The  direct  line  would 
have  come  through  Paris  to  Covington ;  but  Cincinnati, 
on  the  opposite  shore,  was,  in  the  imagination  of  Louis- 
ville, the  lion  in  the  way.  The  result  was,  that  the 
Kentucky  Legislature  granted  an  impracticable  charter, 
requiring  the  Charleston  and  Cincinnati  Railroad  Com- 
pany to  construct  three  roads  from  Lexington  to  Coving- 
ton,  Maysville,  and  Louisville*  This  was  adding  five 
millions-  to  the  capital  required,  and  was  a  burden  too 
great  to  be  borne.  The  plan,  as  a  whole,  failed,  and  has 
since  progressed  only  by  piecemeal.  In  a  little  time  it 
will  be  fully  accomplished,  and  no  public  work  in 
the  nation  has  produced  or  can  produce  such  immense 


260  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

benefits  as  this  will,  to  the  great  section  of  country  lying 
South,  from  the  Ohio  to  the  Atlantic.  It  will  develop 
the  immense  resources  of  that  country,  while  it  gives 
growth,  peace,  and  prosperity  to  its  people. 

The  view  taken  of  this  subject  at  the  South,  will  be 
seen  by  the  following  extract  from  the  report  of  Chan- 
cellor Johnson,  at  the  second  annual  meeting  of  the 
stockholders  of  the  Louisville,  Cincinnati,  and  Charles* 
ton  Railroad  Company,  in  September,  1838 : 

"  The  world  has  not,  in  modern  days,  looked  on  an 
enterprise  so  sublimely  magnificent,  as  that  on  which 
we  have  embarked,  whether  we  consider  it  with  refer- 
ence to  its  magnitude,  or  the  consequences  that  must 
inevitably  follow  it.  Regarded  merely  as  the  mean  of  a 
convenient,  commercial,  and  social  intercourse,  the  im- 
portance and  advantages  of  the  contemplated  railroad 
can  scarcely  be  estimated,  but  these  sink  into  compara- 
tive insignificance,  wrhen  we  realize  that  it  must  inevita- 
bly unite  in  indissoluble  bonds,  citizens  of  the  same 
country,  children  of  the  same  family,  who  have  hitherto 
been  comparatively  estranged  by  the  distance  and  diffi- 
culty of  intercourse.  In  the  language  of  the  report, 
'  Let  the  directors  and  stockholders  pledge  themselves  to 
each  other  and  the  world,  never  to  intermit  their  efforts, 
until  a  railroad  communication  shall  be  established  be- 
tween the  South  Atlantic  and  the  navigable  waters  of  the 
West ;  and  while  we  are  moving  steadily  forward  in  this 
noble  work,  let  us  resolve  to  consider  nothing  accom 
plished,  while  anything  remains  to  be  done.' ': 

When  the  Convention  adjourned,  Dr.  Drake  and  my 
self  took  passage  in  a  small  steamer  at  Kingston,  on  the 
Tennessee,  for  Huntsville,  Alabama.  The  country  and 
its  scenery  were  new  to  both  of  us.  There  were  only 


TRAVELING   ON  THE  TENNESSEE   RIVER.  261 

half  a  dozen  passengers  besides  ourselves.  The  boat 
was  clean,  and  we  enjoyed  this  voyage  down  a  river 
which  is  little  known  to  northern  people,  but  is  in  some 
features  a  beautiful  stream.  The  horizontal  limestone 
stratum  was  worn  away  by  the  river  at  the  base,  leaving 
little  caverns,  while  the  bank  above  was  surmounted  by 
foliage  and  flowers.  Near  where  Chattanooga  now  is, 
we  passed  the  suck  of  the  Tennessee,  where  it  breaks 
through  the  mountains,  not  unlike  the  Shenandoah  at 
Harper's  Ferry.  The  stream,  however,  is  compressed 
within  narrower  limits,  and,  like  Hurlgate,  whirlpools 
are  formed  over  the  rocks.  Above  stretches  the  lofty 
heads  of  the  Cumberland  Mountains,  and  the  entire 
scene  has  a  wild  and  imposing  grandeur.  As  we  ap- 
proached the  "  suck,"  it  seemed  as  if  there  was  no  room 
for  our  little  steamer  to  pass  ;  but  by  skillful  pilotage  we 
glided  through.  I  have  visited  the  most  celebrated 
scenes  in  our  country,  and  I  think  that  on  the  Upper 
Tennessee,  from  the  mountains  of  Virginia  down,  may 
be  found  some  views  equal  to  any  other. 

Dr.  Drake,  being  familiar  with  natural  history,  and 
fond  of  conversation,  both  amused  and  instructed  us  in 
our  voyage.  He  had  a  ready  capacity  also,  in  making 
himself  at  home  among  strangers.  When  we  arrived  at 
Huntsville,  although  acquainted  with  but  one  or  two 
individuals,  he  introduced  himself  at  once,  to  the  refined 
and  hospitable  society  of  the  place.  Acting  upon  the 
principle  that  the  inhabitants  would  be  glad  to  see  and 
receive  us,  he  went  among  them  with  perfect  ease  and 
naturalness,  and  was  not  disappointed.  We  were 
received  with  all  the  hospitality,  grace,  and  refinement 
which  distinguish  the  South. 

From  Huntsville  we  returned  to  Cincinnati  by  stage, 


262  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

through  Nashville  and  Lexington.  It  was  midsummer, 
and  although  the  roads  were  as  good  as  bad  roads 
can  be,  and  the  public  houses  had  abundance  of  good 
fare,  I  was  often  reminded  of  the  article  Dr.  Drake 
wrote  for  the  Western  Medical  and  Physical  Journal, 
in  1827.  It  was  written  with  all  his  peculiar  charac- 
teristics, and  addressed  to  valetudinarians,  on  modem 
traveling.* 

"In  the  present  mode  of  traveling,"  said  he,  ''every- 
thing, indeed,  is  sacrificed  to  dispatch.  The  commercial 
spirit  has  swallowed  up  all  others,  and  exercises  an  indis- 
putable and  domineering  sway.  Impatience,  growing 
in  proportion  as  it  has  been  gratified,  longs  for  a  celerity 
equal  to  that  of  an  arrow  from  the  bow  of  a  Pawnee 
chief.  A  journey  seems  now  to  be  regarded  (and  truly 
it  is  made  so)  as  a  painful  probationary  state,  and 
human  ingenuity  is  tortured  to  find  new  means  of  accele- 
ration." 

Proceeding  to  what  was  then  the  special  mode  of 
traveling  in  the  interior,  the  doctor  thus  attacked  the 
stage  coach : 

"  The  stage  coach,  hung  on  springs,  gives  but  little  ex- 
ercise on  smooth  roads,  while,  from  the  speed  with  which 
it  is  driven,  it  subjects  weakly  passengers  to  excessive 
jolting  over  rough  ones.  In  the  former  case,  its  celerity 
and  easy  swing  often  produce  nausea,  which  being  sel- 
dom carried  to  the  point  of  full  vomiting,  has  most  of 
the  distressing  attributes  of  sea  sickness,  without  any  of 
the  ulterior  benefits.  It  is  generally  crowded  with  pas- 
sengers, who  are  strangers  to  one  another ;  and  when, 
from  inclement  weather,  its  curtains  are  closely  drawn, 

*  Western  Medical  and  Physical  Journal,  Sept,,  1827:  pp.  306-9. 


DE.   DEAKE   ON   TEAVELING.  263 

the  condition  of  every  invalid  is  truly  lamentable.  In 
the  drowsiest  hour  of  night  the  reluctant  captives  of  the 
stage  coach,  whether  in  or  out  of  health,  are  aroused  from 
their  beds ;  a  ride  of  twelve  or  eighteen  miles  before 
breakfast  immediately  follows ;  the  time  allowed  for  that 
meal,  and  the  necessary  subsequent  repose,  is  not  one 
third  of  what  is  requisite ;  and  the  meal  itself  is  prepared 
according  to  a  rule  of  the  tavern,  and  not  the  taste  or 
wrants  of  those  who  are  to  eat  it ;  dinner  is  served  up  and 
dispatched  in  a  similar  way ;  and  the  unhappy  travelers, 
driven  till  nine  or  ten  o'clock  at  night,  sup  with  vora- 
cious appetites  at  eleven,  and  retire,  to  enjoy  three  or 
four  hours  of  oppressive  and  unrefreshing  slumber. 
Finally,  the  real  and  imaginary  dangers  attendant  on 
traveling  at  night  are  sufficient  to  give  concern  to  the 
most  resolute  or  the  most  reckless,  while  to  the  sick  and 
timid  they  are  absolutely  appalling. 

"  Having  in  post  haste  reached  the  steamboat,  the  jaded 
invalids,  in  the  simplicity  of  their  hearts,  anticipate  a 
speedy  manumission ;  and  true  it  is,  that  this  proud  monu- 
ment of  American  genius  is  exempt  from  many  of  the 
unpleasant  circumstances  attendant  on  the  vehicle  they 
have  just  left.  However,  it  is  thronged,  restless,  and 
noisy  ;  and  the  air  of  its  crowded  lodging-rooms  is  neces- 
sarily confined.  A  constant  tendency  to  alarm,  especially 
after  dark,  exists  among  those  unaccustomed  to  their 
new  situation  ;  and  one  or  two  nights  are  generally  spent 
without  sleep,  or  at  least  are  greatly  disturbed ;  by  the 
end  of  which  period  the  itinerant  invalids  find  them- 
selves at  the  termination  of  a  voyage,  which  has  exercised 
nothing  but  their  tempers  and  their  fears." 

The  doctor  proceeds  to  the  canal  boats,  which  he 
concludes  is  an  amiable  and  harmless  invention,  but 


264:  LIFE   OF   DK.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

was  made  only  for  cripples.  He  finally  says,  that  the 
proper  mode  of  traveling  for  an  invalid  is  on  horseback, 
and  the  journey  should  be  a  protracted  one.  In  this  he 
agrees  with  Sydenham,  and  with  what,  in  this  matter, 
is  of  higher  authority  than  either — the  almost  universal 
experience  of  dyspeptics  and  invalids. 

But  it  is  upon  the  traveler's  diet  that  the  doctor  pours 
forth  the  concentrated  indignation  of  an  injured  dyspep- 
tic. "The  traveler's  appetite  is  strong,  and  may  be 
indulged  with  some  latitude.  But  nothing  can  com- 
pensate for  the  effect  of  indigestible  food.  In  the  West, 
there  are  three  standing  travelers'  dishes,  which  every 
invalid  should  refuse,  or  eat  with  fear  and  trembling. 
These  are,  1.  Chickens  who  sing  their  own  death -song 
under  his  dining-room  windows,  and  are  transferred 
from  the  aviary  to  the  table,  with  less  of  culinary  than 
vital  heat  in  their  systems.  2.  Rancid  and  fat  bacon, 
fried  with  eggs  until  their  albumen  is  coagulated  into 
horn.  3.  Hot,  unleavened  biscuit,  saturated  with  lard., 
kneaded  the  moment  before  they  are  committed  to  the 
pan,  and  served  up  while  they  still  send  forth  columns 
of  vapor  and  volatile  oil.  To  hope  that  a  day's  journey 
of  thirty  or  forty  miles,  even  with  the  choicest  friends, 
beneath  the  brightest  skies,  amidst  the  splendid  Mosaic 
of  our  wide-spreading  prairies,  or  under  the  green  cano- 
py of  our  lofty  forests,  and  through  an  atmosphere 
aromatic  with  the  blended  odors  of  the  woodbine  and 
the  crab  apple ;  in  short,  to  expect  that  all  the  poetry 
of  nature,  and  all  the  companionship  of  society,  can  win 
for  us  an  exemption  from  acid  stomachs,  petulent  tem- 
pers, and  scowling  brows,  under  such  indulgencies,  is  to 
cherish  a  pleasant  but  most  unprofitable  delusion." 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see,  by  this  article,  that  Dr.  Drake's 


BLANDING   AND   HAYNE.  265 

dyspepsia  did  not  terminate  with  its  first  attack.  In 
fact,  he  was  more  or  less  subject  to  it  during  his  whole 
life. 

We  returned  to  Cincinnati  at  the  close  of  July,  1836, 
anJ,  as  I  shall  soon  relate,  the  year  did  not  close  till  ho 
was  embarked  on  new  and  even  more  difficult  enterprises. 
In  the  mean  time,  however,  the  South,  especially  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Tennessee,  had  become  alive  to 
the  great  work  we  had  proposed  in  Cincinnati.  South 
Carolina  put  forth  her  whole  strength,  and,  but  for  the 
jealousies  in  Kentucky,  of  which  I  have  spoken,  would 
ten  years  since  have  reached  the  Ohio  with  an  iron  band, 
which  would  have  made  the  faces  in  Ohio  and  Carolina 
familiar  to  each  other.  In  this  enterprise,  the  most 
conspicuous  and  active  men,  were  two  distinguished  gen- 
tlemen of  Carolina,  now  dead.  One  was  Colonel  ABRA- 
HAM BLANDING,  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  but  nearly 
his  life-time  a  citizen  of  South  Carolina.  He  was  a  man 
of  scientific  mind,  of  amiable  manners,  and  broad  intel- 
ligence. He  took  the  lead  on  the  subject  of  internal 
improvement  in  South  Carolina,  and  to  forward  this 
enterprise  visited  Cincinnati,  and  made  himself  familiar 
with  the  route.  The  other  was  General  ROBERT.  Y. 
HAYNE.  He  was  President  of  the  Knoxville  Convention, 
and  afterwards  became  President  of  the  Southwestern 
Eailroad  and  Banking  Company.  General  Hayne,  as 
all  know  who  saw  him  in  the  Senate,  was  a  man  of  great 
ability,  of  commanding  eloquence,  and  dignified  mari- 
ners. He  embarked  in  this  work  with  his  whole  soul, 
and  died  while  engaged  in  its  cause,  dad  these  able 
and  influential  men  lived,  I  think  this  work,  in  spite  of 
all  the  obstacles  in  the  way,  would  long  since  have  been, 
completed. 

23 


266  LIFE  OF   DR.    DANIEL   DKAKB. 

At  ttie  same  time  that  the  plan  of  the  Charleston  and 
Cincinnati  Railway  was  formed,  nearly  all  the  great 
works  which  have  since  been  made  were  projected.  It 
was  the  era  of  1836,  when  ideas  ^  as  well  as  credit,  were 
excited  and  expanded.  Gigantic  schemes  were  form- 
ed, and  it  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  remarkable  facts  in 
the  history  of  this  country,  that  such  has  been  the  rapid, 
sweeping  growth  of  its  power  and  wealth,  that  even  the 
greatest  and  the  wildest  (if  any  plan  in  our  country  can 
be  called  wild)  of  the  plans  formed  in  an  era  of  excited 
speculation,  have,  in  twenty  years,  been  realized,  and 
that  more  by  far — schemes  which  were  only  dreamed  of 
in  the  flights  of  imagination — have  been  reduced  to  sober 
realities,  and  numbered  among  the  common  facts  of  the 
day.  Such  has  been  the  history  of  the  last  twenty  years, 
and  there  seems  to  be  as  little  check  or  limit  to  the 
speculation  of  commerce,  the  development  of  power,  or 
the  growth  of  empire,  as  at  any  time  since  this  govern- 
ment was  formed. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  glance  at  what  was  then  (in 
1836)  the  condition  of  Cincinnati,  and  review  the  public 
works  then  planned,  and  since  executed. 

In  the  years  1832,  '33,  and  '34,  Cincinnati  had  been 
visited,  and  severely,  with  the  cholera.  Three  successive 
seasons  of  the  cholera  is  what  has  seldom  fallen  to  the 
lot  of  any  place  in  the  United  States.  In  the  year  1833, 
as  Dr.  Drake  remarked  in  the  Medical  Journal,  the 
deaths  per  day  were  far  less  than  they  had  been  in  the 
autumn  of  1832;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  disease  re- 
mained four  tifties  as  long.  It  commenced  about  the 
middle  of  April  and  continued  till  September.  In  1834, 
it  was  perhaps  still  less  violent  than  in  1833,  but  it  was 
prevalent  during  the  whole  season  of  warm  weather,  and 


PUBLIC   IMPROVEMETS   AND   ENTERPRIZE.  267 

cast  its  fear  and  shadow  upon  all  things.  The  conse- 
quence was,  that  Cincinnati  has  never  been,  at  any 
period,  so  dull  and  apparently  lifeless  and  inert  as  at 
the  close  of  the  summer  of  1834.  Property  was  sold 
Jow,  and  business  barely  struggled  along.  "When,  how- 
ever, in  1835,  it  became  evident  that  the  dreaded  plague 
had  left  the  country,  a  season  of  extraordinary  activity 
ensued.  The  mind  sprung  up  elastic  from  the  pressure, 
and  all  was  accomplished  that  mind  could  do.  Enter- 
prize,  business,  growth,  the  reality  of  active  energy,  and 
the  ideality  of  a  growing  and  prosperous  future  sprung 
up,  as  the  consequence  of  an  elastic  and  invigorated 
public  mind.  The  general  trade  of  the  country  had  been 
safe  and  profitable — hence  there  was  little  timidity  to 
strengthen  prudence  or  restrain  extravagance.  In  the 
East  commenced  that  series  of  enormous  speculations 
whose  center  was  at  New  York,  and  which,  in  some  re- 
spects, has  never  been  surpassed  in  this  country.  It 
spread  to  the  West,  but  prevailed  comparatively  little  at 
Cincinnati.  The  speculations  here  were  on  a  small 
scale,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  they  did  more  than  give 
a  necessary  and  healthy  excitement  to  the  business  com- 
munity, which  had  so  long  been  in  a  dull,  quiescent  state. 
Certain  it  is,  that  Cincinnati  now  owes  half  her  growth 
and  prosperity  to  plans  of  public  works  and  usefulness 
then  formed  and  undertaken.  I  have  detailed  the  forma- 
tion and  progress  of  the  great  southern  railway.  I  will 
state  the  commencement  of  others,  in  most  of  which  Dr. 
Drake  took  an  active  part. 

First.  The  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis  Railway,  via 
Lawrenceburg.  This  work  was  chartered  by  the  Ohio 
Legislature  in  1832.  Its  chief  promoters  were  Mr.  George 
Graham  and  Alexander  McGrew.  It  was  to  be  continued 


268  UFE   OF   DK.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

through  Indiana  and  Illinois  as  soon  as  charters  could  be 
obtained. 

Second.  The  Little  Miami  Eailroad  Company  was 
chartered  in  March,  1836.  Dr.  Drake,  I  know,  attended 
the  first  meetings  to  promote  this  object. 

Third.  The  Cincinnati,  Columbus,  and  Cleveland 
Eailroad  Company  was  also  chartered  in  1836. 

Fourth.  The  Mad  Eiver  and  Lake  Erie  Eailroad 
was  commenced  about  the  same  period. 

Fifth.  The  White  Water  Canal  was  undertaken  at  the 
same  time. 

Sixth.  The  Covington  and  Lexington  Eailroad,  which 
has  since  been  finished,  is  a  part  of  the  great  work  of 
which  I  have  spoken.  ^.> 

To  the  Little  Miami  and  the  Covington  Eailroads  and 
the  White  Water  Canal,  the  city  of  Cincinnati  subscribed 
liberally ;  being  among  the  first  to  set  the  example  of 
giving  corporate  aid  to  public  works.  This  subscription 
and  the  completion  of  all  these  works,  was  due,  in  no 
small  degree,  to  the  active  exertions  of  a  general  com- 
mittee of  internal  improvements,  appointed  at  a  public 
meeting  of  citizens,  and  whose  services,  although  unre- 
munerated  in  any  way,  were  freely  given,  and  proved 
eminently  useful  to  the  public  interest.  Of  this  committee 
I  recollect  the  following  names :  Micajah  T.  Williams,  ' 
Dr.  Daniel  Drake,  John  C.  Wright,  George  Graham, 
Alexander  McGrew,  Edward  D.  Mansfield,  Eobert  Buch- 
anan, and  John  T.  Williams.  The  works  which  the  com- 
mittee specially  charged  themselves  with,  have  all  been 
completed,  and  become  among  the  most  efficient  instru- 
ments of  advancing  the  growth  and  commerce  of  the  city. 
It  is  now  about  twelve  years  since  the  Little  Miami  Eail- 
road commenced  operations  on  a  part  of  its  line.  The 


GROWTH   OF   CINCINNATI.  269 

other  works  have  come  into  use  since.  We  must  look 
back  to  1836  to  comprehend  what  effect  these  and  other 
public  improvements  have  had  on  this  city. 

In  1836,  the  population  of  Cincinnati  was  about 
38,000.  Its  commerce  was  about  ten  millions  per  an- 
num. Its  public  schools,  its  Mercantile  Library,  and 
public  charities,  were  just  beginning  an  organized  exist- 
ence. How  is  it  in  1855  ?  With  nearly  200,000  peo- 
ple, its  commerce  equal  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions, 
schools,  libraries,  and  chanties,  erected  at  vast  expense, 
and  greater  in  proportion  than  those  of  any  new  city  on 
earth,  Cincinnati  stands  out,  the  acknowledged  metropo- 
lis of  the  central  West ;  rising  over  its  fair  fields  in 
magnificent  proportions,  and  ready  to  receive  the  fine 
arts,  the  polish,  and  the  refinement,  which  added  fame 
and  splendor  to  the  grandeur  of  Eome.  If,  in  a  Chris- 
tian country,  it  shall  escape  the  vices  which  brought 
Home  to  decay,  then  it  may  expect  to  endure  through 
future  ages,  a  noble  testimony  to  Christian  civilization. 

Of  all  the  causes  of  its  growth,  not  one  has  been  so 
active  and  efficient  as  the  possession,  at  an  early  day,  of 
citizens  remarkable  for  sagacity,  intelligence,  patriotism, 
and  energy  ;  men  who  perceived  what  the  city  might  be, 
and  were  willing  to  work  for  its  interest.  It  is  not  alto- 
gether true  that  republics  are  ungrateful ;  but  it  is  true 
that  they  are  unmindful.  In  the  rapid  whirl  of  the  world, 
they  forget  their  benefactors,  and  shout  hosannah  to 
the  rising,  though  gaseous  and  ephemeral,  stars  of  the 
day. 

I  thought  it  no  more  than  justice  to  the  living  and 
the  dead,  to  record  here  one  chapter  in  that  progress 
by  which  Cincinnati  has  moved  on  to  fortune  and  to 
grandeur. 


CHAPTER   XII, 

Attempted  Reform  of  the  Ohio  Medical  College — Revival  of  Cincin- 
nati College — Reorganization — Medical  Faculty — Law  Faculty — 
College  Faculty — Progress  of  the  Institution — Dr.  Drake  as  a 
Lecturer  and  Teacher — Dissolution  of  the  Medical  Department — 
Cincinnati  Chronicle — Faculty  of  the  Arts  in  Cincinnati  College — 
Charles  L.  Telford,  Esq. — Benjamin  Drake,  Esq. — His  Death 
and  Character — Western  Monthly  Review — Judge  Hall — Hiram 
Powers. 

IN  May,  1835,  the  year  previous  to  the  Knoxville 
Convention,  Dr.  Drake  commenced  one  of  the  most 
active,  excited,  and  important  periods  of  his  life.  It 
was  the  revival  of  Cincinnati  College,  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  its  medical  department.  The  cir- 
cumstances under  which  this  movement  commenced 
were  these: 

The  Medical  College  of  Ohio  had  never  accomplished 
the  objects  for  which  it  was  created.  It  was  chartered, 
by  the  personal  efforts  of  Dr.  Drake,  at  a  period  when 
there  was  not  a  single  medical  college  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghauy  Mountains — when  Cincinnati  was  commencing 
its  career  of  youth  and  prosperity,  and  when,  if  properly 
managed  and  ably  conducted,  it  was  sure  to  become  the 
greatest  medical  university  in  the  Union.  Instead  of 
this,  it  presented  almost  a  blank  in  its  results,  and 
promised  little  more  for  the  future.  It  had  few 
students  and  less  reputation.  That  this  was  strictly 
true,  may  be  seen  by  a  glance  at  the  following  table  of 
students  at  Cincinnati  and  at  Lexington  during  a  series 
of  years: 
270 


OHIO   MEDICAL  COLLEGE.  271 


Tears. 

1819. 
1820. 
1821. 
ISflfl 

Cincinna 

00., 
25.. 
30.. 
18.. 

ti.    Lexington. 

38 
93 
138 
171 

Years. 
1827,. 
1828,. 

1829.. 
1830.. 

Cincinnati, 
101  

101  
107.... 
124... 

Lexington* 
152 
206 
199 

210 

1823. 
1824, 

00.. 
...15.. 

200 
234 

1831,. 

1832.. 

131...., 
72...., 

215 
222 

1825. 

1826 

30,. 
80.. 

281 
190 

1833.. 
1834.. 

102  
83  

,  262 
247 

Aggregate,. 

...  16 

*1019 

f3020 

It  must  be  remembered  that  Lexington  was  in  the 
interior,  without  a  large  hospital,  while  Cincinnati  was 
on  the  river,  with  all  the  advantages,  for  medical  stu- 
dents, of  a  large  hospital  and  varieties  of  disease.  Yet 
the  Medical  College  of  Ohio  had  not  one-third  the 
students  as  Lexington,  and  from  1831  to  1834  had 
fallen  off.  The  cause  of  this  was  not  very  remote  or 
obscure.  In  the  third  year  of  its  existence,  Dr.  Drake, 
its  founder,  promoter,  and  zealous  friend,  had  been 
expelled  and  driven  from  its  support  to  the  aid  of 
Lexington.  The  consequence  was,  that,  at  the  next 
session,  there  were  no  students.  The  college  was  abso- 
lutely abandoned.  Nor  was  this  all.  When  it  was 
again  revived,  and  in  two  or  three  subsequent  attempts 
at  reform,  the  professorships  were  filled  either  with  men 
who  quarreled  among  themselves,  or  wanted  the  confi- 
dence of  the  profession  and  the  public.  The  Legislature 
had  instituted  a  solemn  inquiry  into  its  proceedings,  had 
enlarged  the  board,  had  elected  new  trustees — but  all  in 


*  Of  the  Cincinnati  pupils,  an  average  of  twelve,  from  1826  to 
1833  inclusive,  were  beneficiaries,  and  properly  should  not  be 
included. 

f  The  first  year  of  the  Lexington  school  is  not  added  in. 


273  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

vain !  The  fact  was,  that,  in  the  whole  time,  the  faculty 
had  succeeded  in  only  one  thing — the  exhibition  of  an 
untiring  hostility  to  Dr.  Drake.  Of  this  state  of  things, 
the  profession  in  the  city  and  the  State  had  become 
heartily  tired;  and  in  1834-35,  there  was  sent  up  to  the 
Legislature  a  petition  for  reform,  signed  by  a  numerous 
body  of  physicians.  Among  them  were  Dr.  Joshua 
Martin,  of  Xenia,  Dr.  Steele,  of  Dayton,  Dr.  Olds,  of 
Circle ville,  and  Drs.  Kichards,  Rives,  Mount,  Wood, 
Judkins,  and  the  great  body  of  physicians  in  Cincinnati. 
In  consequence  of  this  petition,  the  Legislature  elected 
a  new  board  of  trustees.  This  board  addressed  a  circu- 
lar* to  physicians,  asking  what,  in  their  opinion,  were 
the  causes  of  the  decline  and  inefficiency  of  the  Medical 
College  of  Ohio.  This  committee  received  answers 
from  a  large  number  of  physicians,  and  reported  that 
the  causes  of  the  depressed  state  of  the  institution  were 
"the  dissensions  of  the  individuals  composing  the 
faculty,  at  different  periods,  and  the  want  of  scientific 
reputation  in  the  teachers."  • 

Certainly  such  defects  as  these  are  fatal  to  any  institu- 
tion. But  what  did  the  trustees  to  remedy  these  defects 
Instead  of  vacating  the  chairs,  and  remodeling  the 
whole  faculty,  they  undertook  the  very  common,  but 
always  unsuccessful,  process  of  mixing  half  and  half. 
They  offered  Dr.  Drake  the  chair  of  Theory  and  Prac- 
tice, and  two  of  his  friends  other  chairs,  but  retained 
three  or  four  of  the  old  professors,  of  whom  one  or  two 
were  those  who  were  most  defective,  and  against  whom 


*  This  circular  was  dated  April  14,  1835,  and  signed  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  board,  composed  of  Morgan  Neville,  John  0.  Wright, 
and  Laomi  Rigdon. 


REVIVAL   OF  CINCINNATI   COLLEGE.  273 

most  complaint  had  been  made.  With  these  Dn  Drake 
refused  to  co-operate,  and  the  scheme  of  half  and  half 
failed.  If  there  be  any  lesson  taught  by  the  history  of 
corporate  bodies,  it  is  that,when  decay  or  corruption  has 
once  commenced  in  them,  the  only  remedy  is  the  actual 
cautery.  Had  the  Ohio  Medical  College  been  then 
placed  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Drake  and  his 
friends,  the  whole  controversy  on  the  subject  must  have 
ended  within  three  years;  for  they  alone  would  have 
been  responsible  for  its  success  or  failure.  If  success- 
ful, the  object  of  the  profession  and  the  public  would 
have  been  attained.  If  unsuccessful,  they  would  never 
again  have  right  or  power  to  have  meddled  with  the 
affairs  of  the  college.  The  scheme  of  compromise, 
however,  failed.  The  profession  were  dissatisfied,  and 
Dr.  Drake  and  his  friends  were  left  free  to  pursue  a 
course  of  opposition. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  the  revival  of 
Cincinnati  College  took  place.  In  May,  1835,  at  a 
meeting  of  the  trustees  of  Cincinnati  College,  of  whom 
several  were  physicians,  Dr.  Joshua  Martin  offered  the 
following  preamble  and  resolutions: 

"  Whereas,  The  recent  attempt  of  the  medical  profes- 
sion and  the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio,  to  reorganize 
and  improve  the  condition  of  the  Medical  College  of 
Ohio,  have,  as  we  are  informed,  been  unsuccessful,  (the 
board  of  trustees  of  said  college  having  adjourned  sine 
die,  leaving  two  or  three  of  its  professorships  vacant,) 
and  whereas,  there  is  the  utmost  danger  that  Ohio  will 
lose  the  advantages  of  a  medical  institution,  unless 
immediate  measures  be  taken  to  organize  a  substitute 
for  said  college ;  therefore,  be  it 


274:  ,5  .  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

Resolved,  That  this  board  will  forthwith  proceed 
to  establish  a  medical  department  of  the  Cincinnati 
College." 

This  preamble  and  resolutions  were,  on  motion  of 
William  K.  Morris,  referred  to  a  committee  of  five,  which 
was  composed  of  Dr.  Martin,  Ephraim  Morgan,  Albert 
Picket,  Dr.  William  Mount,  and  William  R.  Morris. 

This  committee  reported  that/'  From  the  peculiar  situ- 
ation in  which  the  Medical  College  of  Ohio  is  placed  at 
this  time,  the  interests  of  the  State,  and  especially  o£this 
community,  require  that  this  board  should  immediately 
create  a  medical  department,  and  appoint  a  medical 
faculty." 

Under  this  resolution  the  board  did  proceed  to  ap- 
point a  medical  department ;  but,  acting  upon  the 
principle  that  the  trustees  of  the  Medical  College  had 
simply  left  a  work  of  reform  incomplete,  they  took  three 
of  the  professors  of  the  new  medical  department  from 
those  of  the  Medical  College,  and  the  residue  were  com- 
posed of  Dr.  Drake  and  new  men.  They  left  the  ground 
open  for  the  trustees  of  the  Medical  College  to  adopt 
this  faculty  if  they  pleased,  and  thus  to  complete  the 
intended  reform,  and  avoid  the  necessity  for  the  new 
medical  department  of  Cincinnati  College.  This  oppor- 
tunity, however,  was  not  embraced,  and  in  June  the 
manifesto  of  Cincinnati  College,  medical  department, 
appeared.  This  announced  the  following  faculty : 

Dr.  J.  W.  McDoWELL,  Special  and  Surgical  Anatomy. 

Dr.  SAMUEL  D.  GROSS,   \  General  and  Pathol°gical  Anatomy,  Physi- 

(      ology,  and  Medical  Jurisprudence. 
Dr.  HORATIO  G.  JAMESON,  Surgery. 

Dr  LANDON  C   RIVES    \  Obstetrics,  and  Diseases  of  Women  and 
'   I      Children. 


CINCINNATI  COLLEGE.  275 

Dr.  JAMES  B.  ROGERS,  Chemistry  and  Pharmacy. 

Dr.  JOHN  P.  HARRISON,  Materia  Medica. 

Dr.  DANIEL  DRAKE,  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine. 

JOHN  L.  RIDDELL,  M,  A.,  Adjunct  Professor  in  Chemistry. 

Dr.  Jameson  did  not  take  his  place  in  the  college,  and 
the  chair  was  filled  by  Dr.  WILLARD  PARKER,  an  able 
and  eminent  man  in  the  profession. 

Mr.  Riddel  1  resigned  after  the  first  session,  and  Dr. 
GARY  A.  TRIMBLE  was  appointed  Demonstrator  in  Ana- 
tomy. 

CINCINNATI  COLLEGE,  which  was  now  revived,  was  one 
of  the  institutions,  which,  in  1818,  '19,  '20,  he  had  him- 
self been  one  of  the  chief  agents  in  establishing.  The 
building  was  originally  commenced  for  the  Lancaster 
Seminary.  About  the  year  1819,  Gen.  WILLIAM  LYTLE, 
who  came  to  the  West  before  Ohio  had  begun,  and  had 
pursued  the  Indian  over  this  very  ground,  proposed  to 
some  of  the  citizens,  in  the  spirit  of  a  generous  munifi- 
cence, that  they  should  finish  the  building,  endow  it, 
and  procure  a  college  charter.  Leading  the  way  with  a 
subscription  of  eleven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  he 
was  followed  by  as  many  respectable  citizens  as  made 
forty  in  the  aggregate,  and  their  contributions  amounted 
to  as  many  thousand  dollars.  A  charter  was  obtained, 
which  gave  ample  power  to  appoint  professors,  organize 
a  faculty,  and  confer  "  all  the  degrees  which  are  usually 
conferred  in  any  college  or  university  in  the  United 
States."  Under  this  charter  classes  were  subsequently 
formed,  and  many  of  the  prominent  young  men  of 
Cincinnati  were  taught  and  graduated  in  the  insti- 
tution. The  foundation  of  Miami  University  soon 
after,  drew  off  many  of  its  pupils,  and  it  was,  at  length, 
suspended. 

Such  was  the  origin  and  history  of  Cincinnati  College, 


276  LIFE  OF  DR.    DANIEL  DRAKE. 

when  it  was  revived,  in  1835,  by  the  active  energies  of 
Dr.  Drake. 

The  enterprise,  which  the  doctor  and  his  colleagues 
had  now  embarked  upon,  was  pursued  with  all  the  vigor 
and  industry  which  zeal,  the  stimulation  of  rivalry,  and 
the  demands  of  their  reputation  could  excite.  The  fac- 
ulty, which  had  been  thus  assembled,  was  considerably 
above  the  average  of  those  in  medical  schools.  Besides 
Dr.  Drake,  I  have  already  mentioned  Dr.  PARKER,  who 
bore  a  very  high  rank  in  his  profession,  Dr.  GROSS  has 
since  been  so  widely  known  and  eminently  distin- 
guished, both  as  writer  and  lecturer,  that  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  name  them.  The  professors  were  all  able  men, 
and  all  stood  honorably  and  fairly  before  the  profession. 

The  chair  of  Pathological  Anatomy,  filled  by  Dr. 
Gross,  was  the  first  of  that  kind  established  in  the  United 
States. 

Dr.  Drake,  occupying  the  chair  of  Theory  and  Prac- 
tice, was,  of  course,  obliged  to  put  forth  all  his  faculties, 
and  never  did  his  genius,  his  energy,  and  eloquence 
appear  to  better  advantage.  In  professional  and  in 
popular  lectures,  in  business,  and  in  society,  he  was 
everywhere  active,  brilliant,  laborious,  overseeing  the 
whole  arrangements,  yet  attentive  to  every  detail.  He 
was  then  more  excited,  perhaps  stronger,  than  at  any 
other  period  of  his  life.  I  have  said  that  he  thought 
himself  peculiarly  qualified  to  be  a  teacher  of  medicine, 
and  in  his  professional  lectures,  he  seemed  to  throw  his 
whole  soul  into  the  subject.  In  1825,  I  attended  an 
occasional  course  of  lectures,  delivered  by  him  to  a 
select  class,  and  can  give  my  testimony  to  the  general 
accuracy  of  the  following  description  of  his  style  and 
manner  of,  lecturing  given  by  Professor  Gross. 


DR.  DRAKE  AS  A  LECTURER  AND  TEACHER.  277 

Speaking  of  his  appearance  in  the  lecture-room,  Dr. 
Gross  says :  * 

"  It  was  here,  surrounded  by  his  pupils,  that  he  dis- 
played it  with  peculiar  force  and  emphasis.  As  he  spoke 
to  them,  from  day  to  day,  respecting  the  great  truths  of 
medical  doctrine  and  medical  science,  he  produced  an 
effect  upon  his  young  disciples  such  as  few  teachers  are 
capable  of  creating.  His  words  dropped  hot  and  burning 
from  his  lips,  as  the  lava  falls  from  the  burning  crater ; 
enkindling  the  fire  of  enthusiasm  in  his  pupils,  and  carry- 
ing them  away  in  total  forgetfulness  of  everything,  save 
the  all-absorbing  topic  under  discussion.  They  will  never 
forget  the  ardor  and  animation  which  he  infused  into  his 
discourses,  however  dry  or  uninviting  the  subject ;  how  he 
enchained  their  attention,  and  how,  by  his  skill  and  ad- 
dresSj  he  lightened  the  tedium  of  the  class-room.  No 
teacher  ever  knew  better  how  to  enliven  his  auditors,  at 
one  time  with  glowing  bursts  of  eloquence,  at  another  with 
the  sallies  of  wit ;  now  with  a  startling  pun,  and  anon 
with  the  recital  of  an  apt  and  amusing  anecdote ;  elicit- 
ing, on  the  one  hand,  their  admiration  for  his  varied  in- 
tellectual riches,  and,  on  the  other,  their  respect  and 
veneration  for  his  extraordinary  abilities  as  an  expounder 
of  the  great  and  fundamental  principles  of  medical  sci- 
ence. His  gestures,  never  graceful,  and  sometimes  em- 
inently awkward,  the  peculiar  incurvation  of  his  body, 
nay,  the  very  drawl  in  which  he  frequently  gave  expres- 
sion to  his  ideas,  all  denoted  the  burning  fire  within, 
and  served  to  impart  force  and  vigor  to  everything 
which  he  uttered  from  the  rostrum.  Of  all  the  medical 


*  Dr.  Gross's  "  Discourse  on  the  Life,  Character,  and  Services  of 
Daniel  Drake,  M.  D."    Louisville,  1853. 


278  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

teachers  whom  I  have  ever  heard,  he  was  the  most 
forcible  and  eloquent.  His  voice  was  remarkably  clear 
and  distinct,  and  so  powerful ,  that  when  the  windows  of 
his  lecture-room  were  open,  it  could  be  heard  at  a  great 
distance.  He  sometimes  read  his  discourse,  but  generally 
he  ascended  the  rostrum  without  note  or  scrip. 

"His  earnest  manner  often  reminded  me  of  that  of  an 
old  and  venerable  Methodist  preacher,  whose  ministra- 
tions I  was  wont  to  attend  in  my  early  boyhood.  In  ad- 
dressing the  Throne  of  Grace,  he  seemed  always  to  be 
wrestling  with  the  Lord  for  a  blessing  upon  his  people, 
in  a  way  so  ardent  and  zealous  as  to  inspire  the  idea 
that  he  was  determined  to  obtain  what  he  asked.  The 
same  kind  of  fervor  was  apparent  in  our  friend.  In  his 
lectures  he  seemed  always  to  be  wrestling  with  his  sub- 
ject, viewing  and  exhibiting  it  in  every  possible  aspect 
and  relation,  and  never  stopping  until,  like  an  ingenious 
and  dexterous  anatomist,  he  had  divested  it,  by  means 
of  his  mental  scalpel,  of  all  extraneous  matter,  and  placed 
it,  nude  and  life-like,  before  the  minds  of  his  pupils." 

With  abilities  so  transcendent  and  manners  so  enthu- 
siastic, and  with  such  stores  of  medical  knowledge,  he 
ought,  as  Dr.  Gross  well  remarks,  to  have  been  uni- 
versally popular  as  a  teacher  ;  and  yet  such  was  not  the 
fact.  For  this  there  were  reasons  quite  sufficient,  in  the 
almost  impossibility  of  bringing  great  minds  into  sym- 
pathy, on  scientific  subjects,  with  inferior  ones.  This 
has  been  the  common  fate  of  nearly  all  men  of  great 
professional  or  scientific  attainments,  even  when  profes- 
sional teachers.  The  exceptions  to  it  are  rare.  Filled 
with  the  higher  and  nobler  principles  of  their  art  and 
science,  they  cannot  bring  themselves  entirely  down  to 
the  level  of  simple  and  ignorant  pupils  ;  and  yet  this  is 


DR.  DRAKE  AS  A  LECTURER  AND  TEACHER.  279 

necessary  to  reach  their  comprehensions.  Dr.  Gross 
says  that,  students  often  complained  that  Dr.  Drake  was 
abstruse — that  they  could  not  follow  his  argumentation 
or  derive  much  profit  from  it.  But  this  was  not  said  by 
the  more  advanced  members  of  his  class,  who  always 
felt  the  deepest  interest,  and  looked  upon  him  as  an  able 
instructor.  He  always  commenced  his  lectures  with 
general  principles,  which  are,  in  fact,  the  philosophical 
part ;  for  he  placed  the  inculcation  of  principles  above 
every  other  consideration ;  and  he  would  not  change  this 
course  for  any  additional  popularity  it  might  confer. 
The  real  difficulty  was  and  is,  in  the  medical  profession, 
that  pupils  in  medical  schools  are  generally  unprepared 
for  what  they  are  to  be  taught.  This  was  a  continual 
grief  and  vexation  to  Dr.  Drake,  who  saw  clearly 
that  the  profession  could  not  be  elevated  and  its  teach- 
ers properly  honored,  till  the  standard  of  medical  edu- 
cation was  raised.  Hence  he  never  lost  an  opportunity 
to  speak  and  write  on  this  subject.  I  have  before  re- 
ferred to  his  views  on  medical  education,  published  in 
the  u  Western  Journal,"  and  his  long  and  ardent  labors 
in  the  College  of  Teachers.  In  his  noble  course  of  medi- 
cal teaching,  he  inculcated  and  enforced  the  necessity  of 
an  early  and  systematic  education ;  and  if  ever  the  pro- 
fession of  medicine  can  disentangle  itself  from  the  mass 
of  crudity  and  quackery  with  which  it  is  now  surrounded, 
it  will  be  by  making  itself  yet  more  scientific,  and  yet 
more  highly  educated.  Perhaps,  however,  this  mass 
of  crudity  and  quackery  may  ultimately  prove  a  benefit 
to  the  disciples  of  true  medicine,  by  affording  a  pool 
into  which  the  ignorant  and  ill  prepared,  sloughing  off, 
may  fall  and  find  their  native  element.  It  may  serve 
to  draw  the  line  between  true  science  and  quackery. 


280  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

The  medical  department  of  Cincinnati  College  was, 
in  any  fair  sense  of  the  term,  entirely  successful.  At  its 
first  session  it  had  about  eighty  pupils,  and  at  the  sec- 
ond one  hundred  and  twenty-five — considerable  more 
than  the  Medical  College  of  Ohio,  and  the  second  num- 
ber among  the  Western  schools.  Yet,  notwithstanding 
this  actual  success,  it  was,  at  the  end  of  four  years,  dis- 
solved, and  has  never  been  revived.  There  are  now  four 
medical  schools  in  Cincinnati,  of  all  shades  and  degrees ; 
but  Cincinnati  College  is,  as  to  that  object,  extinct.*  The 
cause  of  the  dissolution  of  the  medical  department  at 
that  time,  was  one  which  has  extinguished  the  hopes  and 
promise  of  many  literary  institutions  in  this  country.  It 
was  simply  the  want  of  funds  to  supply  the  apparatus, 
library,  hospital,  and  other  material  means  necessary  to 
carry  on  scientific  instruction.  The  day  is  gone  by  when 
any  uninspired  man  can,  by  human  learning  or  elo- 
quence, go  out  into  the  fields  and  draw  crowds  around 
him,  as  was  once  the  case  in  the  middle  ages,  when 
learning  emerged  from  the  tomb  of  centuries.  The 
world  now  requires  the  luxurious  arts  of  instruction, 
and  is  no  longer  willing  to  receive  the  lessons  of  Gama- 
liel divested  of  the  dross  and  drapings  of  his  profession. 
Nor  is  science  any  longer  the  simple  and  unadorned 
thing  it  once  was.  It  comes  now  not  only  with  many 
arts,  but  with  complications  and  collaterals  which  re- 
quire a  scientific  machinery  for  adaptation  and  illustra- 
tion. In  fine,  to  establish  a  scientific  institution  and  give 


*  I  have  stated  in  another  place,  that  the  law  department  is  yet  in 
operation.  The  Mercantile  Library  Association  may  fairly  be  re- 
garded as  an  adjunct  of  collegiate  institutions  ;  but  of  class  teaching 
there  is  none. 


DISSOLUTION   OF   THE   MEDICAL   DEPARTMENT.        281 

instructions  in  all  its  parts,  requires  buildings,  apparatus, 
libraries,  and  laboratories,  which,  in  turn,  require  the 
investment  of  large  sums  of  money.  The  faculty  of 
Cincinnati  College  undertook  to  do  this  for  themselves, 
found  it  too  great  a  burden,  and  gave  it  up.  The  history 
of  the  enterprise  is  thus  briefly  given  by  Dr.  Gross : 

"  With  such  a  faculty  the  school  could  hardly  fail  to 
prosper.  It  had,  however,  to  contend  with  one  serious 
disadvantage,  namely,  the  want  of  an  endowment.  It 
was,  strictly  speaking,  a  private  enterprise ;  and  although 
the  citizens  of  Cincinnati  contributed,  perhaps  not  illibe- 
rally, to  its  support,  yet  the  chief  burden  fell  upon  the 
four  oirginal  projectors,  Drake,  Rives,  McDowell,  and 
myself.  They  found  the  edifice  of  the  Cincinnati  College, 
erected  many  years  before,  in  a  state  of  decay,  without 
."^paratus,  lecture-rooms,  or  museum  ;  they  had  to  go  east 
3f  the  mountains  for  two  of  their  professors,  with  onerous 
guaranties ;  and  they  had  to  encounter  no  ordinary  degree 
?>f  prejudice  and  actual  opposition  from  the  friends  of  the 
Medical  College  of  Ohio.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore, 
lhat  after  struggling  on,  although  with  annually  increas- 
ing classes,  and  with  a  spirit  of  activity  and  perseverance 
that  hardly  knew  any  bounds,  it  should  at  length  have 
exhausted  the  patience,  and  even  the  forbearance  of  its 
founders.  What,  however,  contributed  more,  perhaps, 
than  anything  else,  to  its  immediate  downfall,was  the  re- 
signation of  Dr.  Parker,  who,  in  the  summer  of  1839, 
accepted  the  corresponding  chair  in  the  College  of  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons  of  the  city  of  New  York,  an  institu- 
tion which  he  has  been  so  instrumental  in  elevating,  and 
which  he  still  continues  to  adorn  by  his  talents  and  hia 
extraordinary  popularity  as  a  teacher  and  a  practitioner. 
The  vacation  of  the  surgical  chair  was  soon  followed  by 
24 


282  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL   DKAKE. 

my  own  retirement  and  by  that  of  my  other  colleagues, 
Dr.  Drake  being  the  last  to  withdraw. 

"During  the  four  years  the  school  was  in  existence  it 
educated  nearly  four  hundred  pupils  ;  the  last  class  being 
nearly  double  that  in  the  rival  institution,  an  evidence  at 
once  of  its  popularity,  and  the  ability  and  enterprise  of 
its  faculty.  The  school  had  cost  each  of  the  original 
projectors  about  four  thousand  dollars,  nearly  the 
amount  of  the  emoluments  of  their  respective  chairs 
during  its  brief  but  brilliant  career. 

"Dr.  Drake  had  the  success  of  this  enterprise  much  at 
heart,  and  often  expressed  regret  at  its  failure ;  what  the 
result  might  have  been,  if  it  had  been  vigorously  prose- 
cuted up  to  the  present  time,  must,  of  course,  remain  a 
matter  of  conjecture.  I  have  often  thought,  and  so  had 
my  lamented  friend,  that  we  had  vitality  and  energy 
enough  in  our  faculty  to  build  up  a  great  and  flourishing 
institution,  creditable  alike  to  the  West  and  to  the  United 
States.  He  had  a  high  opinion  of  the  ability,  zeal  and 
learning  of  his  colleagues,  whom  he  never  ceased  to  re- 
gard as  one  of  the  most  powerful  bodies  of  men  with 
whom  he  was-  ever  associated  in  medical  teaching.  The 
correctness  of  his  judgment  was  amply  confirmed  by  the 
elevated  position  to  which  most  of  them  have  since  at- 
tained." 

Thus  ended  the  career  of  Dr.  Drake  as  a  medical 
teacher  in  Cincinnati.  He  soon  after  removed  to  Louis- 
ville— and  returned  but  once — as  a  lecturer.  As  that 
was  a  brief  episode  in  his  life  of  labors,  in  and  for  this 
city  of  his  love,  I  shall  hereafter  refer  to  it,  and  the  lan- 
guage in  which  he  disclosed  the  depth  of  that  love,  and 
the  visions  which  animated  his  hopes. 

After  he  had  been  at  Louisville  some  years,  the  Trus- 


HIS   RESIGNATION   AT  LOUISVILLE.  283 

tees  of  the  Medical  Institute  most  unwisely  limited  the  age 
of  a  professor  to  sixty-five  years.  Dr.  Drake  was  ap- 
proaching that  age,  and  very  properly  resigned,  in  an- 
ticipation of  this  limit.  It  was  in  the  year  1849,  and  he 
was  immediately  elected  to  a  chair  in  the  Medical  Col- 
lege of  Ohio.  The  circumstances  which  formerly  existed 
as  to  the  professors  had  changed.  The  old  asperities 
and  controversies  had  passed  away,  and  with  none  more 
entirely  and  completely  than  with  him.  He  had  forgiven, 
and  he  resolved  to  forget,  whatever  intervened  between 
him  and  peace  with  his  fellow-men.  He  therefore  ac- 
cepted the  chair  offered  him,  and  for  one  season  lectured, 
for  the  last  time,  within  the  walls  of  the  Medical  College 
of  Ohio. 

In  his  introductory  lecture  he  has  the  following  pas- 
sage, which,  as  descriptive  of  personal  feeling,  I  think 
one  of  the  finest  pieces  of  written  eloquence  I  have  ever 
seen.  It  is  also  peculiarly  characteristic  of  his  genius, 
and  temperament.  After  alluding  to  his  connection 
with  Cincinnati,  and  with  various  medical  institutions, 
he  said : 

"  My  heart  still  .fondly  turned  to  my  first  love,  your 
alma  mater.  Her  image,  glowing  in  the  warm  and 
radiant  tints  of  earlier  life,  was  ever  in  my  view.  Tran- 
sylvania had  been  reorganized  in  1819,  and  included  in 
its  faculty  Professor  Dudley,  whose  surgical  fame  had 
already  spread  throughout  the  west,  and  that  paragon  of 
labor  and  perseverence,  Professor  Caldwell,  now  a  vete- 
ran octogenarian.  In  the  year  after  my  separation  from 
this  school,  I  was  recalled  to  that ;  but  neither  the  elo- 
quence of  colleagues,  nor  the  greeting  of  the  largest 
classes,  which  the  University  ever  enjoyed,  could  drive 
that  beautiful  image  from  my  mind.  After  four  sessions 


284:  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

I  resigned ;  and  was  subsequently  called  to  Jefferson 
Medical  College,  Philadelphia ;  but  the  image  mingled 
with  my  shadow  ;  and  when  we  reached  the  summit  of 
the  mountain,  it  bade  me  stop  and  gaze  upon  the  silvery 
cloud  which  hung  over  the  place  where  you  are  now 
assembled.  Afterward,  in  the  medical  department  of 
Cincinnati  College,  I  lectured  with  men  of  power,  to 
young  men  thirsting  for  knowledge,  but  the  image  still 
hovered  round  me.  I  was  then  invited  to  Louisville, 
became  a  member  of  one  of  the  ablest  faculties  ever  em* 
bodied  in  the  west,  and  saw  the  halls  of  the  University 
rapidly  filled.  But  when  I  looked  on  the  faces  of  four 
hundred  students,  behold !  the  image  was  in  their  midst. 
While  there  I  prosecuted  an  extensive  course  of  personal 
inquiry  into  the  causes  and  cure  of  the  diseases  of  the 
interior  of  the  continent ;  and  in  journeyings  by  day, 
and  journeyings  by  night — on  the  water,  and  on  the  land 
— while  struggling  through  the  matted  rushes  where  the 
Mississippi  mingles  with  the  Gulf — or  camping  with  In- 
dians and  Canadian  boatmen,  under  the  pines  and  birches 
of  Lake  Superior,  the  image  was  still  my  faithful  com- 
panion, and  whispered  sweet  words  of  encouragement 
and  hope.  I  bided  my  time  ;  and  after  twice  doubling 
the  period  through  which  Jacob  waited  for  his  Eachael, 
the  united  voice  of  the  trustees  and  professors  has  re- 
called me  to  the  chair  which  I  held  in  the  beginning." 

Truly  did  he  describe  the  image  which  floated  through 
his  mind  during  thirty  years.  In  times  of  disappoint- 
ment he  had  attempted  to  throw  it  aside.  He  had 
resolved  to  go  to  Philadelphia.  He  had  served  there, 
and  in  Lexington,  and  Louisville,  amidst  circumstances 
which  would  have  allured  almost  any  one,  and  brilliant 
prospects  which  would  have  tempted  almost  any  ambi- 


CINCINNATI  COLLEGE.  285 

tion.  But,  from  every  point  of  the  horizon,  wherever 
drawn,  his  mind  constantly  returned  to  this  home  of  his 
affections,  and  his  eyes  constantly  lingered  on  the  beau- 
tiful image  which  floated  through  the  visions  of  fancy. 

Seldom  does  there  exist  such  affection  to  place  and 
institutions  as  his ;  and  yet,  with  what  opposition,  and 
with  what  injustice  was  he  visited  during  the  greatest 
part  of  his  long  probation  ?  He,  however,  had  forgotten 
this,  as  he  looked  for  the  last  time,  with  glowing  heart, 
on  this  vision  of  his  youth.  If  he  had  desired  a  per- 
sonal triumph,  he  had  it  now.  He  was  placed  in  the 
chair  which  he  had  originally  occupied  in  the  institu- 
tion of  his  love ;  and  he  was  placed  there,  not  only  with 
the  consent,  but  with  the  laudation  of  his  opponents  and 
of  all  society. 

In  the  meanwhile,  however,  the  Louisville  Institute 
rescinded  its  absurd  limitation  of  years,  and  Dr.  Drake 
returned  there,  closing  foreverr  with  this  brief  session, 
his  connection  with  the  Medical  College  of  Ohio.* 

In  instituting  the  Medical  Department  of  Cincinnati 
College,  Dr.  Drake  did  not  confine  himself  to  that  de- 
partment. On  the  contrary,  he  was  intent  on  reviving 
the  college  itself,  and  making  it  a  great  and  useful  uni- 
versity. I  should  do  injustice  to  him,  and  to  many 
others,  if  I  did  not  here  briefly  record  his  efforts  for  that 
object ;  the  labors  of  others,  who  united  with  him,  and 
the  temporary  success  with  which  they  were  crowned. 

By  the  charter  of  Cincinnati  College,  the  teaching  of 
any  particular  theology  is  excluded ;  but  all  other 
branches  of  learning  may  be  taught,  and  must  be,  to 


*  He  was  appointed  to  a  chair  in  the  Medical  College  of  Ohio,  and 
had  returned  to  Cincinnati  to  remain,  when  death  cut  short  his  labors. 


286  LIFE  OF  DK.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

constitute  a  university.  In  the  revival  of  Cincinnati  Col- 
lege, then,  there  was  instituted  a  Medical  Department, 
a  Law  Department,  and  a  Faculty  of  Arts.  Of  the  Med- 
ical School  I  have  already  spoken.  The  Law  School 
was  formed  on  the  basis  of  one  which  had  previously 
been  originated  by  two  gentlemen  of  the  bar,  EDWARD 
KING,  Esq.  and  TIMOTHY  WALKER,  Esq.  General  King 
was  a  thoroughly  educated  and  most  eloquent  lawyer. 
Mr.  Walker  has  since  distinguished  himself  as  one  of  the 
ablest  and  most  successful  practitioners.  These  gentle- 
men had  formed  a  private  law  school,  and  obtained  a 
large  number  of  students.  General  King  was  now  dead, 
and  Mr.  Walker  was  introduced,  as  one  of  the  professors 
of  the  school,  in  Cincinnati  College.  By  the  commence- 
ment of  1836,  these  were : 

JOHN  C  WRIGHT       I  Professor  of  Practice,  Pleading,  and  Criminal 

I      Law. 
TW,     „  a  -RW  r  f  Professor  of  Commercial  Law,  and  the  Law  of 

JOSEPH    D.  J5ENHAM,     •{         _  .   _ 

(   "  Personal  Property. 

f  Professor  of  Constitutional  Law,  and  the  Law 
TIMOTHY  WALKER,     j     of  Real  Estate. 

A  very  respectable  number  of  students  attended  the 
lectures,  and  the  school,  thus  founded,  has  been  con- 
tinued to  this  day.  Some  years  afterwards,  Mr.  Benham 
removed ;  Judge  Wright  and  Mr.  Walker  left  the  school, 
and  were  succeeded  by  others.  About  1847-48,  Charles 
L.  Telford,  Esq.,  who  had  previously  been  Professor  of 
Literature  in  Cincinnati  College,  and  William  S.  Groes- 
beck,  Esq.,  became  professors.  They  have  been  suc- 
ceeded by  Judge  James  and  M.  E.  Curwen,  Esq.,  and 
in  their  hands  the  school  is  both  vigorous  and  thriving. 
Indeed,  the  law  school  of  Cincinnati  College  is  one  of 
the  best  in  the  country.  It  is  all  that  remains  of  that 


FACULTY  OF  CINCINNATI  COLLEGE.       287 

institution,  except,  its  building,  and  does  honor  to  its 
memory. 

Besides  the  medical  and  law  departments,  it  was  the 
purpose  of  Dr.  Drake — and  for  the  time  successfully 
accomplished — to  revive  the  literary  department  of  the 
college,  and  establish  a  faculty  of  arts.  After  some 
changes  in  the  original  programme,  the  following  faculty 
were  appointed,  and  for  several  years  constituted  the 
active  teachers  of  the  institution : 

W.  H.  MCGUFFEY,  President,  J  Professor  of  Moral  and  Intellectual 

I       Philosophy. 

ORMSBY  M.  MITCHELL,  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Astronomy. 
ASA  DRURY,  Professor  of  Ancient  Languages. 
CHARLES  L.  TELFORD,  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Belles-lettres. 

EDWARD  D.  MANSFIELD,  {  *">'«*«    *    Constitutional    Law    and 

{       History. 

LYMAN  HARDING,  Principal  of  the  Preparatory  Department. 
JOSEPH  HERRON,  Principal  of  the  Primary  Department. 

Though  these  are  all  living,  except  the  lamented 
Telford,  yet  it  will  not  be  improper  to  speak  of  them  as 
they  appeared  in  their  official  stations,  especially,  as  I 
shall  give  my  testimony  to  the  merit  of  my  colleagues, 
and  recall  the  memory  of  pleasant  hours. 

The  President,  EEV.  WILLIAM  H.  McGuFFEY,  had  been 
several  years  a  professor  in  Miami  University,  Oxford, 
where  he  had  acquired  a  high  reputation ;  and  since  he 
left  Cincinnati,  now  fourteen  years,  has  been  Professor 
of  Intellectual  Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Virginia, 
whose  reputation  has  been  increased  by  his  superior 
abilities.  Mr.  McGuffey  entered  Cincinnati  College 
with  the  full  knowledge  that  it  was  an  experimental 
career ;  but  he  came  with  an  energy,  a  determination, 
and  a  zeal  in  the  cause  of  education,  and  the  pursuit  of 
high  and  noble  duties,  which  are  rarely  met  with,  and  are 


288  LIFE   OF   DK.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

sure  to  command  success  in  any  pursuit.  His  mind  is 
more  purely  metaphysical,  and,  therefore,  analytical  and 
logical,  than  that  of  any  one  I  have  known,  or  whose 
works  I  have  read.  In  his  discourses  and  lectures  before 
members  of  the  college,  he  disentangled  difficulties, 
made  mysteries  plain,  and  brought  the  abstruse  and 
profound  within  the  reach  of  common  intellects.  Hence 
his  Sunday  morning  discourses  in  the  college  chapel 
were  always  numerously  attended,  and  his  manner  of 
treating  metaphysics  was  universally  popular.  I  thought 
then,  and  think  now,  that  Dr.  McGufl'ey  was  the  only 
really  clear-headed  metaphysician  of  whom  it  has  been 
my  lot  to  know  anything.  In  addition,  he  was  a  practi- 
cal teacher  of  great  ability.  In  fine,  he  was  naturally 
formed  for  the  chair  of  Intellectual  Philosophy,  and  in 
Cincinnati  College  put  forth,  with  zeal  and  fervor,  those 
talents  which  were  peculiarly  his  own. 

PROFESSOR  MITCHELL,  like  Dr.  McGufiey,  has  since 
acquired  so  broad  a  reputation  as  to  reflect  back  honor 
and  distinction  on  the  chair  he  then  held.  Indepen- 
dently of  this,  however,  he  was  a  graduate  of  West 
Point,  always  distinguished  for  his  love  of  mathematics 
and  astronomy.  In  Cincinnati  he  had  been  several 
years  a  teacher,  and  no  one  had  ever  taught  more  suc- 
cessfully. In  coming  into  the  college,  he  took  almost 
the  sole  charge  of  the  department  of  physical  science ; 
and  for  several  years  taught  large  classes,  zealously  and 
laboriously.  He  remained  in  the  college  while  it  was 
possible  to  keep  it  together.  Soon  after  the  dissolution 
of  Cincinnati  College,  he  commenced  the  foundation 
of  the  Cincinnati  Observatory,  which,  by  his  unaided 
energ}7,  he  was  able  finally  to  complete,  and  where  he 
still  continues  his  astronomical  observations.  He  has 


FACULTY   OF  CINCINNATI  COLLEGE.  289 

invented  some  machinery  to  facilitate  the  work  of  an 
observatory,  which  has  been  adopted  in  Europe — and 
thus  reflects  credit  on  our  country. 

EEV.  MR.  DRURY  always  seemed  to  me  to  have  not  only 
the  knowledge,  but  the  tact  of  an  excellent  teacher ;  and 
both  his  pupils  and  his  colleagues  gave  testimony  to  his 
talents  and  his  worth.  He  has  since  been  several  years  a 
professor  in  the  Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  Covington, 
and  is  now  the  principal  of  a  select  school  in  that  city. 

My  own  part,  in  the  practical  teaching  in  the  college, 
was  small,  having  no  special  share  in  its  class  instruc- 
tion. In  one  season,  however,  I  delivered  lectures  on 
the  Law  of  Equity  and  the  Constitution  to  the  law  class, 
and  of  that  class,  I  now  recollect  several  who  have  since 
been  quite  distinguished  in  public  life.  I  also  delivered, 
during  one  winter,  a  series  of  popular  lectures  on  the 
History  of  Civilization.*  Aside  from  this,  I  had  little 
part  in  the  labors  of  the  institution.  I  used,  however^ 
to  meet  my  colleagues  in  faculty  meetings,  and  in  almost 
daily  social  intercourse.  We  became  intimate,  and  some 
of  the  pleasantest  and  most  instructive  hours  I  ever 
passed,  were  spent  in  the  highly  intellectual  and  brilliant 
society  of  the  professors  in  Cincinnati  College.  We 
were  all  in  the  early  prime  of  life ;  its  labors  seemed 
light ;  its  cares  and  sorrows  were  lessened  by  the  hopes 
of  the  future ;  and  we  gathered  knowledge  from  every 
passing  event,  and  flowers  from  every  opening  scene. 
Such  periods  come  but  once ;  and  when  they  come  in 

*It  is  my  hope  and  desire  to  publish  a  volume  on  the  Christian 
Philosophy  of  Civilization.  I  have  all  the  material,  and  it  has  lain, 
dust  covered,  more  than  the  nine  years  recommended  by  Horace. 
But  whether  this  desire  can  ever  be  gratified,  depends  on  the  course 
of  Providence  more  than  my  will. 
25 


290  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

such  companionship,  they  make  the  golden  thread  of  life, 
which,  while  the  woof  around  it  may  be  equally  useful 
and  more  important,  gives  greater  brightness,  and  shines 
on  through  the  years  of  memory.  I  think  of  that  time, 
as  one  does  of  hours  passed  amidst  verdant  fields  and 
balmy  air.  We  never  met  without  pleasure,  nor  ever 
parted  without  regretting  the  shortness  of  the  hours. 
To  have  such  meetings,  I  regarded  as  no  small  blessing, 
and  to  have  them  no  longer  is  among  my  deepest  regrets. 
With  such  a  faculty,  I  thought — as  Dr.  Gross  did  of 
the  medical  department — we  should  have  succeeded ; 
and  practically  we  did ;  for  the  college  contained,  at  one 
time,  as  many  as  one  hundred  and  sixty  pupils,  and 
certainly  received  the  encouragement  of  the  community 
around  it.  But  totally  without  any  endowment  for  the 
college,  and  without  any  revenue,  except  such  as  they 
received  from  tuition,  such  a  number  of  professors  could 
not  support  their  families,  and  pay  also  the  incidental 
expenses  (not  small)  of  the  college.  Had  the  college 
been  only  so  far  endowed  as  to  furnish  its  material 
apparatus  of  books  and  instruments,  and  also  pay  its 
incidental  expenses,  I  have  no  doubt  it  would  have  sus- 
tained itself,  and  been,  at  this  moment,  the  most  honor- 
able testimony  to  the  intellectual  and  literary  progress 
of  the  city.  Such,  however,  was  not  its  fortune.  After 
lingering  a  few  years,  its  light  went  out ;  the  professors 
separated ;  and  the  college  name  attached  to  its  walls 
alone  attest  that  such  an  institution  once  existed.* 

*  The  property  belonging  to  the  corporation  of  Cincinnati  College 
is  very  valuable,  and  it  ought  to  be  made  available  to  the  objects  for 
which  it  was  given.  A  slight  effort  would  enable  the  trustees  to 
pay  the  debt  upon  it,  and  then  a  permanent  endowment  would  be 
afforded  a  collegiate  institution. 


CHARLES   L.    TELFORD.  291 

Of  the  literary  faculty,  which  there  assembled  with 
so  much  of  hope  and  happiness,  all  are  alive  but  one. 
To  his  name  I  would  here  add  such  words  of  memory, 
and  high  estimation,  as  years  of  friendship,  and  of 
thorough  acquaintance,  entitle  me  to  utter.  Mr.  TELFORD 
was  in  no  way  a  common  person ;  he  had  uncommon 
talents,  both  of  nature  and  self-culture.  Tall,  erect,  with 
dark  hair,  and  clear  dark  eyes,  his  carriage  was  manly, 
dignified,  and  commanding.  In  this  respect,  he  was 
one  of  a  few  whom  nature  has  formed,  not  to  be  reduced 
to  the  ordinary  level  by  the  want  of  gravity  and  dignity. 
He  had  always  self-respect,  and  never  frivolity.  Yet  he 
was  cheerful  and  amiable  in  the  society  of  his  friends, 
ready  to  join  in  any  innocent  pleasure.  He  graduated 
at  Miami  University,  although  the  habits  and  tendencies 
of  his  mind  were  evidently  less  what  he  got  from  college, 
than  what  he  got  from  his  home  breeding.  His  parents 
were  Presbyterians,  who  thought  their  faith  was  some- 
thing worth  giving  their  children,  and  they  certainly 
impressed  both  its  religious  and  its  intellectual  qualities 
upon  him.  To  this  must  be  added  his  habits  as  a 
student,  for  he  was  always  a  student,  and  made  his 
studies  useful. 

With  these  qualities  of  person  and  mind,  he  had  a 
taste  for  literature  and  the  graces  of  elocution ;  and  for 
these  he  was  made  Professor  of  Ehetoric  and  Belles- 
Lettres.  He  was  a  fine  writer,  and,  with  a  clear  voice 
and  good  address,  he  was  also  a  graceful  orator.  I 
heard  him  once  deliver  a  Fourth  of  July  address,  in  the 
open  air,  and,  both  in  matter  and  manner,  it  was  equal 
to  anything  of  that  kind  I  ever  heard. 

But  Mr.  Telford's  highest  qualities  were  above  these. 
He  was  a  pure  character;  he  was  upright;  he  was 


292  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

conscientious.  In  all  these  respects  he  was  without  fear 
and  without  reproach.  He  was  entirely  reliable;  and 
in  integrity  and  fidelity,  was  a  model  in  these  days  of 
laxity  and  irreligion. 

While  in  the  college  he  studied  for  the  bar,  and  sub- 
sequently, in  partnership  with  William  S.  Groesbeck, 
Esq.,  came  into  a  very  good  business.  While  quite 
young,  he  was  elected  professor  in  the  Law  School  of 
Cincinnati  College,  and  acquitted  himself  there,  as  in 
all  places,  well  and  honorably. 

He  was  yet  young,  when  consumption,  that  minister 
of  death,  seized  him  for  his  own.  He  was  a  quiet, 
unostentatious,  believing  Christian,  and  left  the  world  in 
peace,  quietly  gliding  from  time  to  eternity. 

Such  is  my  memory  of  Telford,  and  I  can  say,  with 
the  author  of  Yamoyden — 

"But  now  that  cherish'd  voice  was  near, 

And  all  around  yet  breathes  of  him ; 
We  look,  and  we  can  only  hear 

The  parting  wings  of  cherubim ! 
*  *  *  *  *  # 

Mourn  ye !   whom  friendship's  silver  chain 

Link'd  with  his  soul  in  bonds  refined; 
That  earth  had  striven  to  break  in  vain 

The  sacred  sympathy  of  mind; 
Still  long  that  sympathy  shall  last, 

Still  shall  each  object,  like  a  spell, 
Recall  from  fate  the  buried  past, 

Present  the  mind  beloved  so  well. 
That  pure  intelligence — oh !   where 

Is  now  its  onward  progress  won  ? 
Through  what  new  regions  does  it  dare 

Push  the  bold  quest  on  earth  begun  ? 
In  realms  of  boundless  glory  fraught, 

Where  fancy  can  no  trophies  raise, 
la  blissful  visions  where  the  thought 

Is  whelmed  in  wonder  and  in  praise. 


BENJAMIN  DRAKE.  293 

In  1839—40,  Dr.  Drake,  the  last  to  leave  the  medical 
department,  was  appointed  a  professor  in  the  Louisville 
Medical  Institute.  He  accepted  the  appointment,  and, 
for  ten  years,  lectured  in  that  institution.  The  literary 
department,  in  some  branches,  lingered  on  a  short  time, 
and  finally  expired.  Arrangements  were  made  with  the 
Trustees  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  by  which  the 
college  acquired  a  title  in  fee  simple,  and  the  present 
large  and  handsome  edifice  was  erected  on  the  site  of  the 
old  college.  The  former  seat  of  literature  is  now  the  seat 
of  commerce.  The  lower  story  is  occupied  with  stores ; 
a  part  of  the  second  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce ;  and 
the  other  part  by  the  Mercantile  Library  Association — 
an  institution  highly  useful  and  honorable  to  the  city, 
and  which,  in  its  facilities  for  reading  and  instruction, 
performs,  in  some  degree,  the  functions  of  a  college. 

Among  the  measures  adopted  to  promote  the  interests 
of  Cincinnati  College,  was  the  establishment  of  the 
Cincinnati  Chronicle,  which  was  an  old  paper  revived. 
As  this  paper  had  as  much  connection  with  the  public 
interests  as  any  other,  and,  in  its  whole  career,  did  more 
than  any  other  to  promote  the  literary  taste  and  talent 
of  Cincinnati,  it  is  not  improper  to  take  some  notice  of 
its  history  and  character.  The  Chronicle  was  founded 
in  the  year  1826,  published  by  Messrs.  Buxton,  and 
edited,  at  that  time,  by  Benjamin  Drake,  Esq.,  brother 
of  the  doctor. 

lu  the  next  twenty  years  it  passed  through  many 
transmutations,  having  at  one  time  ceased  to  exist  in 
name,  though  not  in  substance.  In  1834  it  ceased,  as 
the  Chronicle,  and  was  transferred  to,  or  amalgamated 
in  some  way  with,  a  literary  periodical,  called  the  Cin- 
cinnati Mirror. 


294:  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

In  1836,  the  executive  committee  of  the  Medical 
Department  of  Cincinnati  College  purchased  the  Mirror 
of  Flash  &  Kyder,  for  $1,000,  and  re-established  the 
Chronicle  on  its  subscription  list.  They  got  a  journey- 
man printer,  who  knew  nothing  about  publishing,  to  print 
it,  and  myself,  who  was  Professor  of  History  and  Law 
in  the  college,  to  edit  it.  All  of  us  were  equally  igno- 
rant of  the  modern  'art  of  getting  up  newspapers,  and 
especially  of  the  notable  plan  of  printing  the  paper  to 
puff  ourselves.  I  doubt  whether  we  ever  mentioned  our- 
selves, and  we  were  in  great  fear  when  we  mentioned 
the  college,  lest  it  should  have  the  appearance  of  self- 
laudation.  Happily,  editors  and  publishers  have  got 
rid  of  this  very  imprudent  modesty.  If  the  world  does 
not  appreciate  their  merits  sufficiently  high,  they  are 
fully  capable  of  doing  it  for  themselves;  and  as  it  is 
their  business  to  print,  they  publish  their  own  excellence 
to  all  mankind.  I  had,  after  this,  many  years  of  edito- 
rial experience,  and  I  am  sure  I  should  never  be  guilty 
of  so  much  diffidence  again. 

The  result  of  such  a  newspaper  speculation,  under- 
taken without  any  knowledge  of  the  business,  was  the 
same  with  that  of  all  similar  undertakings.  The  Mirror 
had  nominally  about  two  thousand  subscribers ;  but,  at 
the  end  of  six  months,  not  one-fourth  of  them  were  left, 
and  of  those  not  one-half  paid  their  subscriptions.  At 
that  time,  the  medical  gentlemen  became  heartily  tired, 
and  sold  the  paper  to  Messrs.  Pugh  &  Dodd,  the  former 
a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  the  latter  the 
senior  member  of  the  present  eminent  firm  of  hatters.  I 
remained  editor,  assisted  by  Mr.  Benjamin  Drake,  one 
of  the  original  editors  of  the  old  Chronicle,  but  now  a 
practicing  member  of  the  bar. 


ABOLITION   MOBS.  295 

In  this  new  era  of  the  Chronicle,  we  found  ourselves 
with  a  new  and  unexpected  embarrassment.  It  was  the 
era  of  abolition  mobs.  Dr.  Bailey,  now  editor  of  the 
National  Era,  at  Washington,  published  an  abolition 
paper,  of  which  Mr.  Pugh  was  the  printer.  An  anti- 
abolition  mob  had  just  torn  down  the  press,  and  demol- 
ished the  materials.  The  town  was  in  an  excitement  on 
that  subject,  and  now,  when  the  Chronicle  passed  into 
Mr.  Pugh's  hands,  the  populace  looked  upon  us  with 
suspicion,  and  were  disposed  to  visit  us  with  a  portion 
of  the  indignation  which  they  had  recently  poured  out, 
so  freely  and  so  foolishly,  on  the  abolition  press.  This 
made  no  difference  with  our  course,  but  retarded  the 
support  and  growth  of  the  paper.  The  tone  of  the  public 
mind  has  greatly  changed  since,  and  the  most  extreme 
anti-slavery  ideas  are  not  only  published  with  impunity, 
but  held  by  a  large  portion  of  the  community.  At  one 
time,  even  the  ultimate  freedom  of  the  press  was  in 
danger  from  the  overawing  influence  of  mobs,  instigated 
by  men  who  believed  that  society  was  founded  only  upon 
trade,  and,  like  Demetrius  the  silversmith,  thought  their 
craft  was  in  danger,  when  the  worship  of  the  goddess 
Diana  was  abridged.  That  the  public  opinion  of  Cin- 
cinnati was  corrected,  and  the  press  maintained  its  inde- 
pendent position,  was  chiefly  due  to  the  intrepid  charac- 
ter and  great  ability  of  CHARLES  HAMMOND,  then  editor 
of  the  Gazette.  He  had  a  detestation  of  slavery  in  all 
forms,  and  especially  in  that  meanest  of  all  oppressions, 
the  reckless  violence  of  a  mob,  or  its  counterpart,  the 
overawing  of  a  selfish  and  unenlightened  public  opinion. 
He  had  a  sturdy  independence  which  nothing  could 
conquer.  He  was  a  very  able  lawyer,  and  he  wielded 
the  pen  with  a  vigor  which,  in  its  terseness  and  raciness, 


296  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL  DKAKE. 

was  unequal ed  in  this  country.  In  the  whole  United 
States  1  know  of  but  two  editors  who  personally,  through 
the  press,  exercised  as  much  positive  influence  over  the 
most  intelligent  minds,  and  they  were  altogether  different 
men — Mr.  Walsh,  of  the  National  Gazette^  and  Mr. 
Gales,  of  the  National  Intelligencer.  Neither  Duane, 
nor  Ritchie,  BO  long  and  so  influentially  connected  with 
the  newspaper  press,  were  to  be  compared  to  Mr.  Ham- 
mond, as  political  writers  for  educated  men.  Their  influ- 
ence was  great ;  but  it  was  on  a  lower  level.  Since  the 
days  of  these  great  men  of  the  press,  we  have  a  large 
class  of  popular  newspaper  writers,  who  seek  to  stir  up 
the  multitude  without  guiding  them.  To  agitate  mind 
they  have  much  power ;  but  to  guide  and  govern  it, 
very  little.  This  is  following  in  the  track  of  the  French 
press ;  but  whether  advantageously  to  the  country,  time 
only  can  determine.  It  is  quite  common,  especially  for 
those  who  have  not  studied  the  social  and  political  his- 
tory of  this  country,  to  speak  with  flippancy,  and  even 
in  terms  of  contempt,  of  its  great  conservative  men. 
But  where  and  what  would  this  country  have  been  with- 
out them  ?  Into  what  wilderness  of  opinions,  laws,  or 
institutions  would  we  have  drifted,  but  for  the  Hamil- 
tons,  Websters,  and  Clays  in  the  State ;  and  the  Gales, 
Walshes,  and  Hammonds  in  the  press  ? 

Mr.  Hammond  was  the  ardent  friend  of  liberty,  and, 
being  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  laws  of  the  coun- 
try, fought  its  battle,  where  only  it  can  be  successfully 
fought,  with  liberty  at  the  side  of  law,  and  rights  pro- 
tected by  the  constitution. 

In  the  meantime  the  Chronicle  grew  slowly,  and 
managed,  with  hard  work,  to  maintain  itself.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1839,  it  became  a  daily  paper,  having  obtained  the 


BENJAMIN  DBAKE.  297 

subscription  list  of  the  Whig,  founded  by  Major  Conover, 
and  then  edited  by  Henry  E.  Spencer,  Esq.,  (since  Mayor 
of  the  city,)  with  great  credit  to  himself  and  advantage 
to  the  people.  The  newspaper  publishers  of  this  day, 
who  inform  the  public  (which  the  public  very  cour- 
teously believe)  that  they  commence  with  thousands, 
and  progress  with  tens  of  thousands,  of  subscribers,  will 
doubtless  be  astonished  to  learn  that  we  commenced  the 
Daily  Chronicle  with  two  hundred  and  fifty,  and  termi- 
nated the  year  with  six  hundred,  of  what  the  world  calls 
patrons.  Nevertheless  we  managed  to  get  along,  and  if 
we  did  not  print  as  many  columns  of  reading  matter,  we 
appeal  to  the  files  for  the  proof  that  it  was  quite  as  good. 

In  March,  1840,  Mr.  Drake,  pressed  by  his  other 
engagements,  left  the  paper,  and  in  April,  1841,  after  a 
protracted  and  painful  illness,  died  while  yet  in  the 
prime  of  life.  Mr.  Drake  was  one  of  the  most  useful 
and  worthy  citizens  of  Cincinnati,  and  in  this  place  it  is 
proper  I  should  make  some  notice  of  his:  services. 

BENJAMIN  DRAKE,  brother  of  Daniel  Drake,  was  born 
in  Mason  county,  Kentucky,  in  1795.  Bred  in  the 
infancy  of  the  West,  he  had  few  advantages  of  early  edu- 
cation ;  yet,  by  dint  of  perseverance  and  industry,  he 
came  to  be  a  good  writer,  and  esteemed  a  man  of  no 
mean  abilities.  In  addition  to  this,  he  early  paid  atten- 
tion to  a  much-neglected  branch  of  culture — good  man- 
ners ;  so  that,  being  naturally  amiable,  he  became  a  very 
affable  and  agreeable  person.  He  was  also  a  man  of 
business,  having  been  several  years  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile affairs,  and  afterwards  having  studied  and  practiced 
law.  In  the  midst  of  his  business  and  literary  engage- 
ments, and  with  all  the  burden  of  ill  health  upon  him, 
he  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  zealous  citizens  of 


298  LIFE  OF  DE.    DANIEL  DKAKE. 

Cincinnati,  to  whose  growth  and  prosperity  he  has  con- 
tributed not  a  little.  One,  who  knew  him  well,  has 
said,  that  "  his  name  will  hereafter  be  honored  by  those 
who  would  hold  up  to  grateful  remembrance  the  early 
benefactors  of  the  city,  the  pioneers  of  its  literature  and 
moral  elevation."  I  am  afraid  that  posterity  will  hardly 
do  justice  to  him,  or  to  others  who  have  labored,  and 
successfully,  for  the  prosperity  of  the  country ;  but  I 
shall  here  contribute  some  of  the  facts  which  may  indi- 
cate his  share  in  the  labors  of  the  day. 

He  came  to  Cincinnati  at  an  early  day,  as  I  have  related 
before,  to  assist  in  the  drug  store,  which  had  been  estab- 
lished by  Dr.  Drake.  In  the  drug  business,  and  in  mer- 
cantile affairs  generally,  which  were  carried  on  in  the 
name  of  Isaac  Drake  &  Co.,  Benjamin  was  for  many 
years  engaged,  both  as  a  clerk  and  partner,  till  it  was 
finally  abandoned.  He  then  studied  law,  and  about 
1825-26,  engaged  in  practice  with  William  E.  Mones, 
Esq.,  since  one  of  the  prominent  members  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati bar ;  in  which,  as  a  business,  he  remained  till 
his  death,  or,  rather  till  his  illness  compelled  him  to  dis- 
engage himself. 

In  the  meanwhile  he  had  cultivated  a  taste  for  litera- 
ture, which  was  so  far  predominant,  that  he  became  a 
graceful  and  popular  writer.  He  began  early  to  write 
for  the  newspapers.  In  1825  the  "  Literary  Gazette  " 
was  published  by  Mr.  John  P.  Foote,  then  a  bookseller, 
and  always  a  prominent  citizen,  and  a  benefactor  to  the 
city,  by  his  useful  labors  for  the  public  good.  There 
could  have  been  but  small  hope  of  profit  from  such  a 
periodical,  and  accordingly  it  lived  but  about  eighteen 
months.  In  this  time,  however,  it  acquired  a  high  char- 
acter, and  did  much  to  increase  the  taste  for  letters.  To 


BENJAMIN   DRAKE.  299 

this  paper  Mr.  Benjamin  Drake  was  one  of  the  contrib- 
utors ;  and   some   of  his  articles   excited   considerable 
attention.     After  the  suspension  of  the  Literary  Gazette, 
Mr.  Drake,  in  connection  with  others,  established  the 
Cincinnati  Chronicle,  and  of  this  he  continued  editor 
from  1826  to  1834,  when  his  legal  business  obliged  him 
to  leave  it.     As  an  editor  he  deserved  the  highest  praise ; 
for,  he  had  industry  and  talent,  while  he  united  with 
them,  what  is  so  much  wanted   in  many  newspapers, 
purity,  integrity  and  courtesy.     In  1826,  Mr.  Drake  and 
myself  undertook  to  publish  a  statistical  account  of  Cin- 
cinnati ;  which,  at  that  time,  when  we  were  pioneers  in 
statistics,  was  a  work  of  great  labor.     It  was  accom- 
plished, however,   and  published  under  the   name  of 
"  Cincinnati  in  1826."     I  may  here  say,  that  the  people 
of  Cincinnati  will  scarcely  comprehend,  at  this  time,  how 
much  of  its  rapid  growth  is  due  to  this  and  similar  pub- 
lications, made   since  by  M.Y.  Cist,  and   other  writers. 
"  Cincinnati  in  1826,"  was  republished  in  London,  and 
in  Germany,  for  the  information  of  those  wishing  to  come 
to  this  country.     I  have  no  doubt  that  great  numbers 
came  to  this  country,  and  city,  in  consequence  of  infor- 
mation thus  received.     Of  this  work  Mr.  Drake  contri- 
buted a  large  part ;  Dr.  Drake  wrote  one  article,  and 
.Mr.  Morgan  Neville  another,  on  the  manufactures  of  the 
city,  the  truth  of  which  has  since  been  fully  verified.  Of 
the  general  character  and  services  of  Mr.  Drake  I  can- 
not give  a  better  account  than  is  contained  in  the  follow- 
ing extract,  taken  from  a  notice  of  him,  prepared  by  Judge 
Hall,  and  published  in  the  Chronicle,  April  7,  1841: 

uAs  a  writer,  Mr.  Drake  did  much  for  the  public  adT 
vantage,  and  something,  we  hope,  for  his  own  perma- 
nent reputation.  In  connexion  with  E.  D.  Mansfield, 


300  LIFE  OF  DR.    DANIEL  DRAKE. 

Esq.,  he  prepared  a  little  volume  entitled  a  Cincinnati 
in  1826 ; "  he  compiled  a  useful  work  on  the  Agricul- 
ture and  Products  of  the  Western  States,  portions  of 
which  were  from  his  own  pen ;  and  he  assisted,  we  think, 
in  preparing  various  works  for  the  press.  He  wrote  val- 
uable articles  for  the  Western  Monthly  Magazine,  the 
Southern  Literary  Messenger,  and  other  periodicals.  A 
few  of  his  articles  of  a  fictitious  character  were  collected 
into  a  lively  and  agreeable  volume  called  "  Tales  of  the 
Queen  City,"  which  was  well  received,  His  "  Life  of 
Black  Hawk ;  "  is  an  admirable  work,  strictly  accurate 
in  its  details,  and  written  in  a  clear,  plain  and  well  fin- 
ished style.  A  more  elaborate  performance,  the  "  Life 
of  Tecumseh,"  is  in  press,  and  will  be  published  in  a 
few  days;  its  lamented  author  having  lived  to  correct 
the  last  proof  sheets.  For  this  work  he  has  been  collect- 
ing, for  several  years,  the  materials,  the  greater  part  of 
which  could  be  gathered  onl  j  in  fragments  from  the  few 
contemporaries  of  the  celebrated  chief,  who  yet  survive. 
In  collecting  these  precious  scraps  of  history,  retained 
in  the  recollection  of  numerous  individuals,  scattered 
throughout  a  wide  extent  of  country,  required  an  amount 
of  labor,  of  perseverance,  and  patient  research  of  which  few 
men  are  capable,  but  which  the  subject  of  this  notice  under- 
took and  accomplished,  with  that  calm  and  successful  dili- 
gence which  was  a  marked  feature  in  his  unpretending 
character.  The  world  knows  little  of  the  labor  of  such  a 
work ;  the  products  of  the  mind  afford  to  the  public  eye  but 
little  external  evidence  of  the  toil  expended  in  their  produc- 
tion ;  and  few  perhaps  will  appreciate  the  scrupulous  and 
conscientious  care  with  which  this  portion  of  our  history 
has  been  written.  But  the  fidelity  and  clearness  with  which 
the  facts  of  a  very  interesting  period  of  our  history  are  re- 


BENJAMIN  DRAKE  AS  AN  AUTHOR.        301 

garded,  will  secure  for  this  book  a  highly  respectable  place, 
in  the  literature  of  the  day,  and  preserve  the  name  of 
Benjamin  Drake,  as  one  of  the  successful  writers  of  the 
West.  There  is  no  name  that  deserves  better  to  be  cher- 
ished in  our  literature — for  no  man  did  more  to  encour- 
age Western  talent,  or  awaken  in  a  new  country  a  taste 
for  letters ;  no  one  took  more  pride  in  our  writers  and 
their  works. 

"  The  subject  of  this  notice  was  a  person  of  rare  excel- 
lence in  his  private  character.  Few  men  were  more  ex- 
tensively known,  yet  he  had  no  enemy ;  and  his  friends 
will  long  cherish  the  pleasing  recollection  of  his  pure  and 
upright  life — his  kind,  agreeable,  and  gentlemanly  quali- 
ties. He  had  an  active  and  cheerful  mind,  which  sought 
employment,  and  habits  of  industry  which  enabled  him 
to  accomplish  much.  Of  an  amiable  disposition,  both 
mild  and  conciliatory  manners,  the  strife  of  the  angry 
world  troubled  not  his  gentle  spirit ;  no  bitter  drop  from 
the  cup  of  party  rancor  destroyed  the  sweetness  of  his 
affections.  He  was  fond  of  society,  enjoyed  and  adorned 
the  social  circle,  and  mingled  much  with  the  gay  world ; 
yet  sustained  through  his  life  a  pure  morality,  a  genuine 
benevolence,  and  a  cheerful  affability  which  rendered 
him  a  general  favorite. 

"  Born  and  bred  on  the  shores  of  the  Ohio  in  the  in- 
fancy of  the  country,  when  schools  were  neither  abun- 
dant or  of  a  high  character,  he  had  no  early  advantages 
in  regard  to  education  ;  but  by  dint  of  persevering  ap- 
plication, he  effectually  overcame  this  deficiency,  and  was 
deservedly  ranked  among  the  best  informed  men  of  our 
country.  His  attainments  in  literature  were  highly  re- 
spectable ;  his  style  evinces  a  polished  and  refined  intel- 
lect ;  and  his  labors  as  an  editor  and  writer,  exhibit  the 


302  LIFE  OF   DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

judgment  of  a  mind  naturally  calm  and  sound,  with  the 
discipline  and  accuracy  of  a  careful  study. 

"  Mr.  Drake  was  much  respected  in  his  profession,  and 
was  rising  into  a  lucrative  practice  at  the  bar,  when  ill 
health  compelled  him  to  abandon  it. 

"  It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  add  to  a  picture  of  so 
much  genuine  truth,  that  religion  formed  one  of  its  most 
pleasing  features.  Always  the  friend  of  religion,  this 
estimable  gentleman  became  in  his  last  years  a  professed 
Christian,  and  advanced  the  doctrine  of  the  Cross  by  a 
Christian  life,  and  a  death  so  easy  and  triumphant  as  to 
leave  no  doubt  that  for  him  it  had  in  reality  no  sting."* 

Besides  Mr.  Drake,  several  writers  of  talent  and  dis- 
tinction occasionally  contributed  to  the  Chronicle. 
Among  these  were  Mr.  Perkins,  (who  furnished  among 
other  things,  "  The  Hole  in  my  Pocket,")  Miss  Harriet 
Beecher,  (Mrs.  Stowe,)  Miss  Blackwell,  Mrs.  Richard 
Douglas,  of  Chillicothe,  Mrs.  Sigourney,  and  many 
others. 

Though  not  connected  with  the  college,  I  ought  to 
mention  Judge  HALL,  to  whom  the  literary  character 
and  interests  of  this  city  and  the  West  are  deeply  in- 
debted. Having  early  acquired  a  taste  for  letters,  and  a 
graceful,  agreeable  style,  his  writings,  from  their  first  ap- 
pearance, attracted  much  attention.  His  "  Letters  from 


*  Mr.  Drake  died  in  1841,  and  from  that  time  till  1848,  I  remained 
the  only  editor  of  the  Chronicle,  and  again  became  so  in  1850.  Mr. 
Dodd  left  the  Chronicle  after  a  short  time,  and  became  a  prosperous 
and  distinguished  hatter.  The  Chronicle  changed  proprietors,  was 
finally  united  with  the  Gazette,  and  by  merging  lost  its  life.  Mr. 
Pugh,  who,  with  me,  for  ten  years  carried  on  the  Chronicle,  has 
since  been  engaged  in  job  printing — a  business  for  which  he  has 
superior  qualifications. 


JUDGE  HALL. 

Illinois,"  written  while  he  was  residing  there,  was  one 
of  the  most  pleasing  and  popular  of  American  literary 
productions.  It  was  one  of  the  few  American  works 
which  at  that  time  were  republished  in  London.  In 
England  it  was  placed  in  the  first  rank  of  modern  lite- 
rature. It  was  followed  by  several  other  volumes,  one 
of  which  was  "  Harps'-Head,"  a  novel  founded  on  a  sin- 
gular passage  in  the  history  of  Kentucky,  and  which 
contained  one  or  two  original  and  entirely  American 
characters,  so  graphically  portrayed  as  to  make  a  strong 
feature  in  the  descriptive  view  of  American  life. 

Judge  Hall  has  alsj)  published  a  series  of  tales,  many 
of  which  describe  peculiarities  in  the  pioneers  of  the  West 
—their  characters  and  memories.  'Among  the  last  of  his 
works  is  the  literary  part  of  the  great  work  on  Indian  Bi- 
ography ;  a  most  splendid  work,  published  at  great  ex- 
pense, and  admirably  executed ;  but  which,  I  fear,  has 
never  properly  remunerated  either  author  or  proprietors. 
We  have  not  quite  arrived  at  the  time  in  which  writers 
and  booksellers  can  be  paid  for  elaborate  and  costly  works. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  our  government  does  not  encour- 
age the  publication  of  great  scientific  or  historical  pro- 
ductions, which  cannot  be  published  at  private  expense. 
Much  has  been  done  in  relation  to  the  writings  of  the 
revolutionary  political  characters.  But  political  writings 
are  really  inferior,  in  both  worth  and  interest,  to  much 
of  what  men  of  science  and  letters  could  produce  if  they 
were  remunerated  for  their  labors.  It  is  the  popular 
doctrine  that  any  book  worth  having  will  be  paid  for  by 
the  public.  This  is  true  of  the  cheap  and  narrative  lit- 
erature ;  but  is  not  true  of  expensive,  scientific,  and 
historical  works.  The  result  is,  that  the  literature 
paid  for  by  the  public  is  all  of  one  kind,  and  that  of 


304  LIFE  OF  DK.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

inferior  value  as  it  regards  the  highest  order  of  popular 
instruction. 

I  can  here  do  no  more  than  refer  to  the  literary  labors 
of  Judge  Hall.  One  of  the  most  useful  of  these  was 
the  conduct  of  the  Western  Monthly  Magazine.  A 
periodical  was  established  in  May,  1827,  by  Timothy 
Flint,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Western  Monthly  Re- 
view" Whether  in  continuation  or  not,  Judge  Hall 
commenced  the  Magazine  in  January,  1833,  and  con- 
tinued it  till  July,  1836,  when  it  passed  to  Mr.  J.  K. 
Fry,  and  after  some  years  of  mutation  as  to  editors  and 
proprietors,  finally  died  the  natural  death  of  all  Ameri- 
can magazines.  I  say  natural  death,  because  the 
American  people  being  essentially  commercial,  and  a 
literary  magazine  having  nothing  commercial  about  it, 
there  is  very  little  sympathy  between  them.  It  is  within 
bounds  to  say  that  hundreds  of  magazines  and  reviews 
have  been  established  in  the  United  States,  which  have, 
like  feeble  children,  died  within  five  years.  The  two 
popular  magazines  now  issued  in  New  York,  will  per- 
haps be  quoted  to  prove  the  possibility  of  magazine  suc- 
cess. To  this  I  would  reply,  that  the  period  of  proba- 
tion is  not  yet  passed ;  and  if  it  were,  there  is  a  new 
element  introduced  which  takes  away  the  exclusively 
literary  character.  This  is  ihv  pictorial  representations, 
which  make  periodicals  sell,  but  are  of  doubtful  charac- 
ter and  utility. 

To  return,  however,  to  the  Western  Monthly  Maga- 
zine. This  magazine  had  decided  merit.  Its  editor, 
Judge  Hall,  was  not  only  an  elegant  writer,  but  it  had 
many  correspondents  who  were  persons  of  intelligence 
and  taste.  It  took  a  strong  interest  in  Western  affairs, 
and  furnished  much  information  which  was  instructive  as 


WESTERN  MONTHLY   REVIEW.  305 

well  as  entertaining.  Though  the  magazine  passed  into 
other  hands,  Judge  Hall  has  not  ceased  to  write  or  to 
labor  for  the  public  benefit.  He  has  ever  been  among 
the  strongest  advocates  of  public  enterprize,  and  the 
best  friend  of  commerce  and  education.  In  connection 
with  Dr.  Drake,  it  was  proper  that  I  should  mention 
him,  as  one  of  those  who  shared  in  the  same  sympathy 
for  the  public  improvement,  and  the  same  patriotic  zeal 
for  the  elevation  and  advancement  of  literature  and 
science. 

I  will  now  close  this  account  of  persons  and  events 
relative  to  the  revival  of  Cincinnati  College,  with  two  ex- 
tracts from  the  Western  Monthly  Magazine  for  January, 
1835,  concerning  Dr.  Drake  and  Hiram  Powers,  the 
sculptor.  Dr.  Drake  and  Mr.  Grimke  had  both  de- 
livered elaborate  discourses  before  Miami  University, 
at  Oxford.  After  speaking  in  the  highest  terms  of  Mr. 
Griinke's  address,  the  reviewer  thus  comments  on  Dr. 
Drake's : 

"  Dr.  Drake's  address  is  entitled  to  equal  praise  as  an 
effort  of  genius,  though  entirely  different  in  its  character 
and  bearings ;  and  we  are  glad  these  two  eminent  indi- 
viduals have  not  placed  us  under  the  necessity  of  draw- 
ing any  parallel  between  their  respective  performances. 
Mr.  Grimke's  is  an  ornate,  scholastic  production — 
a  finished  specimen  of  elegant  criticism,  embellished 
with  rich  gems  from  the  treasury  of  ancient  lore ;  Dr. 
Drake's  is  a  vigorous,  manly  appeal  to  the  patriotism  of 
our  own  broad  and  beautiful  West,  adorned  with  few 
figures,  and  only  with  such  as  are  gleaned  from  the  vol- 
ume of  nature.  He  has  studied"  the  physical  world,  and 
dived  into  the  arcana  of  the  wrorks  of  God,  with  as  much 

energy  and  success  as  had  attended  the  researches  of  hia 

26 


*•* 

306  LIFE   OF  DB.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

friend  into  the  pages  of  the  learned,  and  he  has  brought 
forth  the  resources  of  his  mind,  on  this  occasion,  with  no 
less  ability.  In  vindicating  the  West  he  has  made  no 
comparisons,  nor  indulged  in  the  narrow  prejudices  of 
sectional  distinctions.  These  are  the  devices  of  the  art- 
ful, by  which  they  govern  the  weak,  and  the  materials 
of  which  the  ambitious  erect  the  parties  upon  whose 
shoulders  they  climb  to  distinction.  But  the  sentiment 
of  affection  for  our  own  land  is  laudable ;  patriotism  is 
the  noblest  of  civic  virtues,  and  the  parent  of  all  that  is 
generous  in  civic  duty ;  and  those  who  attempt  to  exert 
an  influence  upon  public  opinion  should  endeavor  to 
imbue  the  popular  mind  with  this  ennobling  principle. 
Instead  of  lamenting  over  the  youth,  and  imbecility,  and 
destitution  of  our  country,  and  appealing  to  the  cold 
charities  of  distant  lands,  as  those  are  prone  to  do  who 
are  ignorant  of  its  resources  and  alien  to  the  spirit  of 
its  people,  we  should  point  out  its  latent  energies, 
and  awaken  its  population  to  the  exercise  of  their  own 
strength,  by  spirited  appeals  to  their  known  intelligence 
and  undoubted  love  of  country. 

It  is  worth  while  to  compare  the  able  exposition  of  the 
capabilities  of  the  West,  and  of  the  moral  character  of 
its  inhabitants,  drawn  by  a  close  observer,  wSose  long 
residence  in  the  valley  has  made  him  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  the  subject  in  all  its  bearings,  with  the 
wretched  caricatures  palmed  off  upon  our  transatlantic 
fellow-citizens,  by  the  malice  of  foreign  travelers,  the 
ignorance  of  puerile  vanity,  or  the  mercenary  zeal  of 
party  spirit.  Such  a  comparison  exhibits  that  difference 
which  may  always  be  detected  between  facts  displayed  in 
their  native  integrity  under  the  calm  light  of  philosophical 
analysis,  and  the  mere  gossip  which  serves  to  astound  a 


HIRAM   POWERS.  307 

gaping  multitude,  or  to  discover  the  discrepancies  of  an 
idle  theory.  The  people  of  the  West  are  not,  in  compari- 
son with  any  other  people,  either  ignorant  or  depraved. 
They  are  made  up  of  the  young,  the  bold,  the  enterpris- 
ing, and  the  vigorous,  from  other  States,  who  brought 
but  little  wealth  to  the  land  of  their  adoption  ;  but  who 
have  given  that  which  is  more  efficient,  the  energy  of 
active  minds — of  fresh,  ardent,  and  determined  spirits." 

Since  this  was  written,  Ohio  has  ceased  to  be  the 
West ;  and  of  Ohio,  or  Kentucky,  there  is  no  need  of 
a  defence,  nor  any  doubt  of  their  equality  in  mind  or  in- 
telligence with  any  portion  of  the  Union.  But  there  was 
a  time  when  the  West  was  looked  upon  rather  as  a  land 
of  outcasts  and  of  inferior  people.  This  was  never  true, 
and  the  adoption  of  such  ideas  argued  much  more  of 
ignorance  in  those  who  held  them,  than  in  those  of  whom 
they  were  spoken. 

In  the  number  of  the  Western  Monthly  for  April, 
1835,  appeared  the  following  notice  of  Hiram  Powers. 
He  had  then  got  above  the  mere  mechanical  branches, 
and  was  now  engaged  in  making  plaster  busts.  He  had 
not  yet  begun  any  marble  sculpture,  and  the  world-wide 
reputation  which  he  now  enjoys,  had  scarcely  begun  to 
dawn.  Recollecting  the  time,  the  following  notice  will 
appear  both  accurate  and  prophetic: 

"  Mr.  Powers  would  appear,  from  the  facts  which  we 
have  stated,  and  a  variety  of  others  of  similar  import  which 
might  be  added,  to  possess  a  rare  combination  of  intellec- 
tual and  physical  endowments — a  fecundity  of  creative 
power,  a  quickness  of  invention  and  contrivance,  a  mathe- 
matical accuracy  of  judgment  in  reference  to  mechanical 
combinations,  a  peculiar  facility  in  subjecting  matter  to 
the  influence  of  his  mind,  and  a  readiness  in  acquiring 


308  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

the  skillful  use  of  tools.  He  combines,  in  short,  the  genius 
of  the  inventor  with  the  skill  of  the  practical  artisan, 
and  can  conceive  and  execute  with  equal  felicity. 

"  We  are  glad  that  this  ingenious  gentleman  has 
turned  his  attention  to  a  branch  of  art  which  is  both  lu- 
crative and  honorable,  and  in  which  he  stands  undoubt- 
edly without  a  rival.  His  present  occupation  is  that  of 
making  busts  in  plaster,  by  a  process  of  his  own  inven- 
tion. The  best  of  these  that  we  have  seen,  is  that  of 
Nicholas  Longworth,  Esq.,  of  this  city,  made  last  year, 
and  which  is  perfectly  inimitable.  No  one  could  look  at 
this  rare  specimen  of  art  without  being  struck  with  the 
fidelity,  the  spirit,  and  the  genius  of  the  execution.  To 
say  that  it  is  an  exact  resemblance  of  the  external  linea- 
ments of  the  original,  is  not  to  do  it  justice ;  the  artist 
entered  into  the  character  of  the  sitter,  and  has  given  an 
expression  to  the  countenance  which  is  not  the  work  of  a 
copyist,  nor  the  result  of  an  accurate  measurement  of 
the  features.  It  is  the  production  of  a  genius,  which,  if 
cultivated  to  its  highest  powers,  will  win  for  its  possessor 
a  name  which  his  country  will  be  proud  to  perpetuate. 

"  We  are  informed  that  Mr.  Powers  possesses  qualities N 
as  a  gentleman  and  companion,  such  as  do  credit  to  his 
heart  and  his  talents.  Unassuming  and  retiring,  he 
has  much  of  that  sententious  and  quiet  wit  that  marks 
a  thoughtful  and  observing  mind.  He  is  a  musician  by 
nature,  and  we  have  heard  that  he  can  imitate  sounds 
with  the  same  ease  and  success  with  which  he  molds 
the  most  obdurate  metallic  substances,  or  the  rudfest  clay, 
into  graceful  shapes.  But  we  have  not  room  to  repeat 
all  that  can  be  done  by  the  admirable  genius  of  this  dis- 
tinguished artist.  If  any  friend  will  suggest  to  us  any- 
thing he  cannot  do,  we  will  notice  it  in  our  next." 


CHAPTER   XIII, 

1840— 1850— Plan  of  Dr.  Drake's  "Work  on  the  Diseases  of  the  Inte- 
rior Valley  of  North  America — His  successive  Journeys — His 
Methods  of  Treatment — Analysis  of  the  "Work — Topographical 
and  Meteorological  Description — Social  Habits — Diseases. 

IT  was  thirty  years  before  the  work  was  published,  that 
Dr.  Drake  announced  his  plan  of  preparing  an  extensive 
treatise  on  the  Diseases  of  the  Interior  Valley  of  North 
America.  Twice  he  issued  circulars  and  commenced  hia 
preparations,  and  at  last,  it  was  ten  years  from  the  com- 
mencement to  the  completion  of  the  first  volume.  Thus 
the  period  of  a  generation  passed  from  the  time  the  work 
was  first  initiated,  before  any  part  of  it  saw  the  light,  and 
then  much  of  it  remained  unpublished  for  the  full  time 
commended  by  Horace  as  the  patient  probation  of 
authorship.  When  it  came  before  the  public,  it  was 
elaborated  with  all  the  care  and  pains  which  minute 

:amination,  long  observation,  scientific  acumen,  and 
high  intellectual  talent  could  give  an  original  treatise  on 
one  of  the  most  important  subjects  connected  with  the 
great  continent  of  America.  In  its  very  nature,  it  was 
original.  It  could  not  be  got  from  books.  It  was  dug 
out,  as  it  were,  of  the  very  elements  of  the  continent  and 
society  of  America.  It  was  as  completely  native  to  the 
soil  as  the  gold  which  came  from  the  mountains  of 
California. 

Such  a  work  could  have  no  solid  and  enduring  value 
and  excellence,  unless  composed  of  positive  facts,  care- 

309 


310  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

fully  observed,  compared,  and  noted,  by  a  logical,  well- 
informed,  and  judicious  mind.  Such  a  work  Dr.  Drake 
has.  actually  produced,  and  in  producing  it,  has  erected 
an  honorable  and  durable  monument  to  the  science  and 
literature  of  America.  The  accomplishment  of  John- 
son's Dictionary  was  deemed  one  of  the  greatest  per- 
formances of  the  last  century  ;  that  of  Webster's  Ameri- 
can Dictionary  was  a  greater  ;  but,  I  think,  whoever  will 
compare  these  labors  fairly,  will  agree  with  me,  that 
there  is  more  of  absolute  labor  and  research,  and  more 
of  original  information,  in  the  treatise  of  Dr.  Drake  on 
the  Diseases  of  the  Interior  Valley,  than  there  is  in 
either  of  the  famous  performances  of  Johnson  and  Web- 
ster.* That  it  is  really  a  great  work,  in  value  as  well 
as  labor,  is  admitted  by  the  highest  medical  and  scien- 
tific authorities  of  Europe  and  America.  That  its  repu- 
tation will  increase  with  time,  is  also  evident.  It  takes 
long  for  the  public  mind  fully  to  acquaint  itself  with 
such  a  performance ;  but  when  it  has,  the  measure  of 
justice  and  praise  is  liberally  meted,  if  not  to  the  living 
author,  at  least  to  his  memory. 

It  is  always  interesting  to  know  how  such  a  work  has 
been  produced,  and  in  what  manner  the  author  has  pur- 
sued his  inquiries.  In  the  present  case  this  is  specially 
so,  because  the  nature  of  the  work  required  a  complica- 
tion of  researches.  Natural  diseases  are  influenced  by, 
if  not  wholly  derived  from,  the  character  of  soil,  climate, 
temperature,  and  food,  in  the  regions  where  they  prevail. 


*  It  is  as  remarkable  as  honorable  in  our  literature,  that  two  of 
the  greatest  and  most  valuable  works  of  this  age,  have  been  pro- 
duced by  Americans — those  of  Webster  and  Drake. 


DISEASES   OF  THE   INTERIOR  VALLEY.  311 

Most  diseases  are  purely  physical  in  their  origin  ;  and 
hence  arise  from  physical  causes.  The  very  first  thing  to 
be  done,  then,  is  to  ascertain  the  topography  and  climate  of 
the  country  whose  diseases  are  treated  of.  The  next  is  to 
determine  the  habits  of  the  people ;  and  the  last  is  to 
describe  the  diseases  and  treatment  of  them.  Then 
these  departments  are  usually  investigated  by  different 
classes  of  men  of  science.  The  first  belongs  to  the  to- 
pographical geographer ;  the  second  to  the  social  econo- 
mist ;  and  the  last  to  the  physician.  To  make  such  a 
treatise,  however,  as  he  planned,  so  complete  and  accu- 
rate, it  was  necessary  that  Dr.  Drake  should  perform  the 
whole  labor  himself,  and  he  did.  There  was  no  treatise 
on  the  physical  topography  of  the  Mississippi  valley ;  none 
on  its  social  economy,  and  none  on  its  general  diseases. 
He  had  been  himself  the  only  pioneer  in  this  branch  of 
local  science,  and  he  was  obliged  now,  not  only  to  build, 
but  to  gather  the  materials  of  the  structure  he  had  de- 
signed. One  of  the  first  things  to  be  done,  the  most 
laborious,  and  the  longest  in  time,  was  personally  to  ob- 
serve and  note  the  topographical  phenomena  of  the 
entire  interior  valley.  This  could  only  be  done  by  sum- 
mer traveling ;  for,  in  winter,  he  lectured  at  Louisville. 
Accordingly,  he  did  travel,  observe,  inquire,  and  note,  in 
that  vast  expanse,  from  Lake  Superior  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  and  from  the  Alleghany  to  the  Eocky  Mountains. 
In  these  extensive  journeys,  he  visited  most  of  the  emi- 
nent physicians,  mingled  among  all  classes  of  people ; 
Indians  and  negroes,  as  well  as  whites.  To  show  the 
^xtent,  as  well  as  time  and  labor  of  these  journeys,  I 
will  here  record,  chronologically,  the  time  and  places  of 
those  made  in  ten  years. 


312  LIFE  OF  DK.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

In  1840 — In  Central  and  Southern  Ohio — especially  the  districts 
infested  with  Milk-Sickness. 

In  1841 — In  Ohio,  Central  and  Eastern. 

In  1842 — In  Northern  Ohio,  Michigan,  and  the  Northern  Lakes. 
On  his  return,  in  October,  he  published  his  "  North- 
ern Lakes  and  Southern  Invalids." 

In  1843 — Missouri,  Alabama,  Florida,  and  Louisiana. 

In  1844 — Mississippi,  Louisiana,and  Alabama. 

In  1845 — In  consequence  of  illness  in  his  family,  Dr,  Drake  did 
not  travel  this  year. 

In  1846 — Completed  his  Southern  explorations,  visiting  parts  of 
Louisiana  and  Florida,  not  before  visited. 

In  1847 — Northern  and  Western  New  York,  Canada,  the  course 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  Montreal,  Quebec,  Toronto, 
etc. 

In  1848 — Northern  and  Western  New  York,  Western  Pennsylva- 
nia, and  Western  Virginia. 

In  1849 — The  cholera  being  prevalent,  and  his  own  family  sick, 
Dr.  Drake  did  not  travel.  x  .}  ' 

In  1850  and  1851 — Western  Virginia,  Tennessee,  and  North 
Carolina. 

In  these  various  and  extensive  journeys,  he  must  have 
traveled  at  least  thirty  thousand  miles,  and  examined 
thoroughly  a  zone  of  country  comprising  four  millions 
of  square  miles.  The  object  of  this  was  to  ascertain, 
personally,  the  distinctive  features  of  each  district  of 
country,  and  especially  of  all  the  principal  cities  and 
towns.  When  this  was  done,  he  employed  competent 
topographical  engineers  and  draughtsmen  to  make  plans 
of  the  sites  and  towns,  that  he  might  give  a  precise,  to- 
pographical view  of  all  those  localities  much  noted  for 
specific  diseases.  The  result  was,  that  there  is  no  other 
work,  which  compares  with  these,  in  distinct,  accurate 
topographical  information.  The  following  list  of  the 
topographical  maps,  in  this  work,  may  be  interesting,  as 


PLAN  OF  DR.  DRAKE'S  WORK.  313 

exhibiting  the  greater  labor  and  expense  to  which  he  went 
in  its  preparations : 

1.  Vertical  section  the  Alleghany  to  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

2.  Bay  of  Pensacola, 

3.  Mobile  Bay. 

4.  Delta  of  the  Mississippi. 

5.  New  Orleans. 

6.  Transverse  section  of  the  Trough  of  the  Mississippi. 

7.  Memphis. 

8.  St.  Louis. 

9.  Harrodsburg  Springs. 

10.  Louisville. 

11.  Pittsburgh  and  its  Vicinity. 

12.  Cincinnati. 

13.  Mackinac. 

14.  Buffalo. 

15.  Island  of  Montreal. 

16.  Quebec. 

17.  Diagram  of  Mean  and  Extreme  Temperature. 

18.  Barometrical  Elevations. 

In  addition  to  these  plates  were  a  great  number  of 
tables  of  temperature,  of  barometrical  observations,  of 
elevations,  etc.,  presenting,  in  the  aggregate,  a  complete 
view  of  the  topography,  climatology,  water-sheds,  and 
vegetation  of  the  great  interior  valley  of  North  America. 

Having  briefly  sketched  the  manner  in  which  this  work 
was  executed,  I  may  turn  now  to  its  plan  and  analysis. 
The  origin  and  objects  of  the  work  are  thus  stated. 

"As  announced  on  the  title  page,  it  is  the  design  of 
this  work  to  treat  of  the  diseases  of  the  Caucasian, 
Indian,  and  African  varieties  of  our  population,  in  con- 
trast and  comparison  with  each  other,  the  first  being  the 
standard  to  which  the  other  two  are  brought.  For  this 
purpose,  no  other  country  presents  equal  advantages; 

27 


LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

since  in  no  other  do  we  find  masses  of  three  varieties  of 
the  human  race  in  permanent  juxta-position.  There  is, 
moreover,  a  fourth  variety — the  Mongolian — represented 
by  the  tribes  of  Esquimaux,  whose  huts  of  snow  are 
scattered  across  the  northern  extremity  of  the  valley,  who 
subsist  on  a  simpler  diet,  and  live  in  a  lower  tempera- 
ture than  any  other  known  portion  of  the  human  race, 
and  therefore  present,  in  their  habits  and  physiology, 
many  points  of  interest,  to  which  he  has  given  such 
attention  as  the  books  of  voyages  and  travels  have 
enabled  him  to  bestow." 

"The  germ  of  this  work  was  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"Notices  Concerning  Cincinnati"  printed  for  distribu- 
tion forty  years  ago.  The  greater  part  of  the  interior 
valley  of  North  America  was  at  that  time  a  primitive 
wilderness.  Ten  years  afterwards,  the  author  formed 
the  design  of  preparing  a  more  extended  work  on  the 
diseases  of  the  Ohio  valley ;  but  being  called  to  teach, 
he  became  interested  in  medical  schools,  which,  with  the 
ceaseless  labors  of  medical  practice  for  the  next  twenty 
years,  left  no  time  for  personal  observation  beyond  the 
immediate  sphere  of  his  own  business.  Meanwhile, 
settlements  extended  in  all  directions,  with  which  the 
area  of  observation  expanded,  and  the  plan  of  the 
promised  work  underwent  a  corresponding  enlargement, 
lie  could  look  upon  this  long  delay  without  regret,  if  he 
were  conscious  that  his  work  had  thereby  been  rendered 
proportionally  more  perfect;  but  he  is  obliged  to  con- 
fess that  the  labors  of  a  pioneer,  in  many  things,  have 
not  been  auspicious  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection  in 
any,  and  that  a  new  country,  with  its  diversified  scenes 
and  objects,  is  not  favorable  to  the  concentration  of 
attention  upon  any  one." 


PLAN  OF  DR.  DRAKE'S  WORK.  315 

Of  the  need  and  value  of  works  written  for  the 
diseases  of  each  particular  country,  as  modified  by 
locality,  Dr.  Drake  thus  expressed  himself: 

"  That  many  physicians  overrate  the  degree  of  varia- 
tion from  a  common  standard  which  the  diseases  of 
different  countries  present,  I  am  quite  convinced,  but 
feel  equally  assured  that,  if  the  maladies  of  each 
country  were  studied  and  described,  without  a  reference 
to  those  of  any  other,  it  would  be  found,  if  the  state  of 
medical  science  were  equal  in  them,  that  the  works  thus 
produced  would  not  be  commutable,  but  that  each 
would  be  better  adapted,  as  a  book  of  etiology,  diag- 
nosis, and  practice,  to  the  profession  and  people  among 
which  it  was  written,  than  to  any  other.  How  much 
better,  would  depend  on  the  various  identities  and  dis- 
crepancies which  might  exist  between  the  countries  thus 
compared.  If  their  geological,  hydrographical,  topo- 
graphical, climatic,  social,  and  physiological  conditions 
were  nearly  the  same,  of  course  their  medical  histories 
would  be  much  alike ;  but  if  they  differed  widely  in  one 
or  several  of  these  conditions,  a  corresponding  diversity 
would  appear  in  the  respective  histories  of  all  the 
diseases  which  admit  of  modification  from  causes  refer- 
able to  those  heads. 

"The  work  on  which  we  are  entering  is  an  attempt 
to  present  an  account — etiological,  symptomatical,  and 
therapeutic — of  the  most  important  diseases  of  a  par- 
ticular portion  of  the  earth ;  not  of  a  State  or  political 
division,  for  it  is  indirectly,  and  to  a  very  limited  extent 
only,  that  civil  divisions  can  originate  varieties  in 
the  character  of  disease.  Physical  causes  lie  at  the 
bottom  of  whatever  differences  the  maladies  of  dif- 
ferent portions  of  the  earth  may  present;  and  hence 


316  LIFE  OF  DR.    DANIEL  DRAKE. 

the  region  which  a  medical  historian  selects  should 
have  well-defined,  natural,  and  not  merely  conventional, 
boundaries. 

With  this  general  view  of  the  work,  I  shall  present  a 
brief  outline  analysis  of  its  contents,  for  the  benefit  of 
those  who  have  not  seen  it,  but  may  desire  to  know  its 
contents : 

BOOK  I.— GENERAL   ETIOLOGY.— 446  PP. 

PART  I.— TOPOGRAPHY  AND  HYDROGRAPHY. 

« 

CHAPTER  I. — Analysis  of  the  Hydrographic  System — Altitude — 
Configuration,  and  Outline. 

CHAPTER  II. — Hydrographic  Basin  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico — Form, 
Depth,  Currents,  and  Temperature. 

CHAPTER  III. — Coasts  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico — Yera  Cruz — Tam- 
pico — Galveston — Cuba — Key  West — Pensacola — Mobile, 
and  minor  bays. 

CHAPTER  IV. — Delta  of  the  Mississippi — Rise,  Fall,  Depth,  and 
Temperature  of  the  Mississippi — Materials — Geological 
Age — Vegetation. 

CHAPTER  V. — Localities  of  the  Delta — The  Balize — New  Orleans- 
Bluffs  of  the  Delta. 

CHAPTER  VI. — Medical  Topography  of  the  Bottoms  and  Bluffs  of 
the  Mississippi — Texas — Yazoo — St.  Francis — American 
Bottoms. 

CHAPTER  VII. — Medical  Topography  of  the  Regions  beyond  the 
Mississippi — Basin  of  the  Rio  del  Norte — Southern  Texas — 
Valley  of  the  Red  River — The  Arkansas  River — The  Ozark 
Mountains — The  Missouri  River. 

CHAPTER  VIII. — Medical  Topography,  East  of  the  Mississippi 
and  South  of  the  Ohio — Appalachicola  Bay  and  River — 
Alabama  River — Tuscaloosa — Pascagoula — Pearl  River — • 
Big  Black,  and  Yazoo  Rivers. 

CHAPTER  IX. — The  Ohio  Basin — Tennessee  River — The  Cumber- 
land— Green  River — Falls  of  the  Ohio — The  Kentucky — - 
The  Licking — The  Ohio — Kanawha,  and  Monongahela. 


PLAN  OF  DR.  DRAKE'S  WORK.       317 

CHAPTER  X. — Basin  of  the  Ohio  on  the  North — the  Alleghany — 
Beaver — Muskingum — Hocking — Scioto — Miami  Basin — • 
City  of  Cincinnati — White  River — Wabash. 

CHAPTER  XI. — Ohio  Basin — The  Kaskaskia — Illinois — Rock 
River. 

CHAPTER  XII. — Eastern  or  St.  Lawrence  Hydrographic  Basin — 
Basin  of  Lake  Superior — of  Lake  Michigan — of  Lake 
Huron — The  Straits. 

CHAPTER  XIII. — Basin  of  Lake  Erie — of  the  River  Raisin — of 
Maumee  Bay — Sankusky  Basin — Huron  River — Black 
River — The  Cuyahoga — The  Chagrin — of  Grand  River — 
Lake  Shore — City  of  Buffalo. 

CHAPTER  XIV. — Basin  of  Lake  Ontario- — Niagara  River — Gene- 
see  River — Oswego  River — Black  River — Coast  of  Lake 
Ontario — Kingston. 

CHAPTER  XV. — River  St.  Lawrence — Ottawa — City  of  Montreal- 
Quebec — Entering  of  the  St.  Lawrence — Parallel  between 
the  Mississippi  and  the  St.  Lawrence. 

CHAPTER  XVI. — The  Hudson  and  its  Basin — The  Hudson  Hy- 
drographic Basin — The  Arctic  Hydrographic  Basin — Con- 
clusion of  Topography. 

PART  II.— CLIMATIC   ETIOLOGY. 

CHAPTER  I. — Nature,  Dynamics,  and  Elements  of  Climate. 
CHAPTER  II. — Temperature  of  the  Interior  Valley — Curves  of 

Mean  Temperature. 
CHAPTER  III. — Atmospheric  Pressure  of  the  Interior  Valley — 

Barometrical  Observations. 
CHAPTER  IV. — Winds  of  the  Interior  Valley. 

Introductory  Observations — Tabular  Views  of  the  Wind  at  our 
Military  Posts — Tabular  Views  of  the  Wind  at  various  Civil 
Stations — Order,  Relative  Prevalence,  Characteristics,  and 
Effects  of  our  Various  Winds. 
CHAPTER  [IV]. — Aqueous  Meteors. 

Bain  and  Snow — Clear,  Cloudy,  Rainy,  and  Snowy  Days-- 
Humidity. 

CHAPTER  V. — Electrical  Phenomena — Distribution  of  Plants  and 
Animals. 

Atmospheric   Electricity — Thunder   Storms — Hurricanes — Cli- 
matic Distribution  of  Plants  and  Animals. 


818  LIFE   OF  DR.    DANIEL  DRAKE. 

PART  III.— PHYSIOLOGICAL  AND   SOCIAL  ETIOLOGY. 

CHAPTER  I.— Population. 

Division  into  Varieties — Caucasian  Variety — Historical,  Chro- 
nological, and  Geographical  Analysis — Physiological  Char- 
acteristics— Statistical  Physiology. 
CHAPTER  II. — Modes  of  Living. 

Diet — Solid  Food — Liquid  Diet  and  Table  Drinks — Water — 

Alcoholic  Beverages — Tobacco. 

CHAPTER  III. — Clothing,  Lodgings,   Bathing,  Habitations,  and 
Shade-Trees. 

Clothing — Bathing — Lodgings— Habitations — Shade-Trees. 

BOOK   II.— FEBRILE   DISEASES. 
PART  I.— AUTUMNAL  FEVER. 

CHAPTER  I. — Nomenclature,  Varieties,  and  Geographical  Limits 

of  Autumnal  Fever. 

CHAPTER  II. — Speculation  on  the  Cause  of  Autumnal  Fever. 
CHAPTER  III. — Mode  of  Action  and  First  Effects  of  the  Remote 

Cause  of  Autumnal  Fever. 

CHAPTER  IV. — Varieties  and  Development  of  Autumnal  Fever. 
CHAPTER  V. — Intermittent  Fever  ;  Simple  and  Inflammatory. 
CHAPTER  VI. — Malignant  Intermittent  Fever. 

General  History — Symptomatology — Pathology  and  Complica- 
tions— Treatment  in  the  Paroxysm — Treatment  in  the  Inter- 
mission— Conclusion. 

CHAPTER  VII. — Remittent  Autumnal  Fever — Simple  and  Inflam- 
matory— Considered  together. 

Symptoms — Treatment. 
CHAPTER  VIII. — Malignant  Remittent  Fever. 

General  Remarks — Diagnosis  and  Pathology — Treatment. 
CHAPTER  IX. — Protracted,  Relapsing,  and  Vernal  Intermittents. 
Chronic   and   Relapsing   Cases — Vernal   Intermittents — Treat- 
ment, Hygienic  and  Medical. 

CHAPTER  X. — Pathological  Anatomy  and  Consequences  of  Au- 
tumnal Fever. 

Mortality  of  Autumnal  Fever — Condition  of  the  Blood  in  Au- 
tumnal Fever — Pathological  Anatomy  of  Intermittent  Fever 
— Pathological  Anatomy  of  Remittent  Fever — Consequences 
of  Autumnal  Fever. 


PLAN  OF  DR.  DRAKE'S  WORK.       319 

CHAPTER  XI. — Consequences  of  Autumnal  Fever. 

Diseases  of  the  Spleen :  General  Views — Splenitis — Suppura- 
tion of  the  Spleen — Enlargement  of  the  Spleen — Diseases 
of  the  L.iver — Dropsy — Periodical  Neuralgia. 

PART  II.    YELLOW  FEVER. 

CHAPTER  I. — Nomenclature,  Geography,  and  Jx>cal  History. 

CHAPTER  II. — Local  History — New  Orleans. 

CHAPTER  III. — East  and  Southeast  of  jbhe  Delta  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. 

CHAPTER  IV. — Places  to  the  Westward  and  Northwest  of  New 
Orleans. 

CHAPTER  V. — Places  up  the  Mississippi. 

CHAPTER  VI. — Etiological  Deductions. 

CHAPTER  VII. — Symptoms. 

CHAPTER  VIII. — Pathological  Anatomy. 

CHAPTER  IX. — Pathology. 

CHAPTER  X. — Self  limitation — Prevention — Treatment. 

CHAPTER  XI. — Miscellaneous  Observations. 

PART   III.    TYPHOUS  FEVERS. 

CHAPTER  I. — Introduction — General  Epidemic — Typhous  Consti- 
tution. 

CHAPTER  II. — Local  History  of  Typhous  Fever. 

CHAPTER  III. — Local  History,  continued. 

CHAPTER  IV.— -Local  Jlistory,  continued. 

CHAPTER  V. — Local  History,  continued. 

CHAPTER  VI. — Local  History,  continued. 

CHAPTER  VII. — Continued  Typhous  Fever. 

CHAPTER  VIII. — Irish  Emigrant  Fever. 

CHAPTER  IX. — Etiological  Generalizations. 

CHAPTER  X. — Etiological  Generalizations,  continued. 

CHAPTER  XI.— Classification  of  Continued  Fevers. 

CHAPTER  XIII. — Pathological  Anatomy  of  Typhous  Fevers. 

CHAPTER  XIV. — Pathology  of  Typhous  Fever. 

CHAPTER  XV. — Treatment  of  Typhous  Fever. 

CHAPTER  XVI. — Relations  of  Typhous  Fever  with  Yellow,  Remit- 
tent and  other  Febrile  Diseases — Seven-day  Typhus — 
Typhoid  Stage. 


320  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

PART  IV.    ERUPTIVE  FEVERS. 

CHAPTER  I. — Small  Pox — Variola. 

CHAPTER  II. — Cow  Pox — Vaccinia — Variola  Vaccinia. 

CHAPTER  III. — Modified  Small  Pox — Varioloid. 

CHAPTER  IV. —  Varicella,  or  Chicken  Pox.  *~ 

CHAPTER  V. — Measles — Rubeola. 

CHAPTER  VI. — Scarlet  Fever — Scarlatina. 

CHAPTER  VII. — Rose  Rash — Roseola  ;  also  Lichen  and  Strophulus* 

CHAPTER  VIII. — Nettle  Rash — Urticaria. 

CHAPTER  IX. — Erysipelas. 

PART   V.    PHLOGISTIC  FEVERS.    THE   PHLEGMASIA. 

CHAPTER  I. — Comparison  with  the  previous  Groups. 

CHAPTER  II. — Etiology  of  the  Phlogistic  Fevers. 

CHAPTER  III. — Rise  and  Establishment  of  the  Simple,  or  Com 
mon  Phlegmasia. 

CHAPTER  IV. — Progress,  Termination,  and  Anatomical  Lesions 
of  the  Simple  Phlegmasia. 

CHAPTER  V. — Indications  and  Means  of  Cure. 

CHAPTER  VI. — Phlegmasia  of  the  Central  Organs  of  Innervation, 
Brain,  and  Spinal  Cord. 

CHAPTER  VII. — Phlegmasia  of  the  Central  Organs,  continued. 

CHAPTER  VIII. — Inflammation  of  the  Nervous  Centers,  continued. 

CHAPTER  IX. — Inflammation  of  the  Nervous  Centers,  continued. 

CHAPTER  X. — Inflammation  of  the  Organs  of  Motion — Rheu- 
matism. 

CHAPTER  XI. — Phlegmasia  of  the  Respiratory  Organs — Etiology. 

CHAPTER  XII. — Mucus  Inflammation  of  the  Respiratory  Organs. 

CHAPTER  XIII. — Laryngismus  Thidulus — Pertussus — Asthma — • 
Hay  Asthma. 

CHAPTER  XIV. — Acute  and  Chronic  Bronchitis. 

CHAPTER  XV. — Pneumonia  and  Pleurisy. 

CHAPTER  XVI. — Typhoid  and  Bilious  Pneumonitis. 

CHAPTER  XVII. — Pleurisy,  Acute  and  Chronic. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. — Tubercular  Pneumonitis,  or  Phtisis  Pulmo 
nalis. 

CHAPTER  XIX. — Tubercular  Pneumonits,  continued. 

CHAPTER  XX. — Cardiac  Inflammations. 


PLAN  OF  DR.  DRAKE'S  WORK.  321 

I  have  given  this  extensive  synopsis  of  Dr.  Drake's 
"  Systematic  Treatise,"  (which  may  be  too  extensive  for 
the  general  reader,)  for  two  reasons,  first,  to  show  the 
magnitude  of  his  labors,  and  the  importance  of  the 
work;  and  secondly,  to  draw  the  attention  of  profes- 
sional men  to  its  bearings  on  their  own  attainments,  and 
professional  success.  There  is  no  medical  man  who 
would  not  be  benefited  by  a  study  of  this  work.  There 
is  no  scientific  man  who  will  not  be  interested  in  it.  As 
a  pure  work  of  science,  I  know  of  none  of  greater  mag- 
nitude and  accuracy  produced  in  America.  The  first 
BIX  hundred  pages  comprise  by  far  the  most  accurate 
and  detailed  account  of  the  physical  elements  and  char- 
acteristics of  the  great  valley  of  the  interior,  which  is 
extant,  either  as  a  whole,  or  in  parts.  The  second  part, 
one  hundred  and  eighty-two  pages,  is  a  complete  ac- 
count of  Autumnal  Fever.  The  third,  one  hundred  and 
seventy-one  pages,  of  Yellow  Fever.  The  fourth,  two 
hundred  and  ten  pages,  of  Typhous,  Emigrant,  and 
Continuous  Fevers.  The  fifth  part,  seventy-eight  pages, 
of  Eruptive  fevers.  The  sixth  part,  of  Phlogistic  Fevers, 
three  hundred  and  twenty-seven  pages.  The  whole 
treatise  has  one  thousand  seven  hundred  pages,  almost 
altogether  of  original  matter^  the  result  of  personal 
and  scientific  research.  Such  a  treatise,  so  composed, 
I  repeat,  has  not  been  produced  in  America.  Of  its 
character  and  merits,  in  a  professional  point  of  view,  I 
shall  not  presume  to  speak.  It  has  been  pronounced  by 
the  highest  medical  authority,  a  work  of  superior  excel- 
lence, and  worthy  the  regard  and  admiration  of  the  pro- 
fession. As  an  American  work,  it  is  an  honor  to  the 
country,  and  a  monument  to  its  science  and  intelligence. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

1840-1850 Meeting  of  the  Pioneers — Dr.  Drake   on  the  Buckeye 

Emblem — Discussion  of  Problems — Milk-Sickness — Mesmeric  Som- 
niloquism — Condition  of  the  Africans  in  the  United  States — North-  . 
ern  Lakes  and  Southern  Invalids — Unpublished  Poetry. 

DURING  the  revival  of  Cincinnati  College,  great  interest 
was  felt  in  the  buckeye  celebrations,  as  they  were  called. 
These  were  intended  to  commemorate  the  first  settlement 
of  the  State,  and  also,  that  of  Cincinnati.  The  former 
took  place  on  the  7th  April,  1787,  and  the  latter  on  the 
last  day  of  December,  1788.  Whatever  may  be  thought 
of  the  buckeye,  as  an  emblem,  no  person  of  right  feel- 
ings can  object  to  cherish  the  memory  of  our  fathers, 
and  commemorate  their  pioneer  settlements,  in  the  wil- 
derness of  the  West.  The  people  who  shall  neglect  this 
will  neither  deserve  nor  receive  the  blessing  which  attends 
filial  devotion. 

The  forty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  first  settlement  of 
Cincinnati  was  celebrated  on  December  26,  1833,  by 
natives  of  Ohio.  The  buckeye  dinner,  as  it  was  called, 
made  a  great  stir  in  the  city,  and  was  a  most  impressive 
and  agreeable  festival.  It  was  got  up  by  young  men, 
natives,  and  I  should  be  glad  to  name  some  of  them,  but 
have  no  list  of  those  who  contributed  to  the  entertainment. 
At  the  dinner  GENERAL  HARRISON  made  a  very  interest- 
ing speech,  and  Dr.  Drake,  Major  Gwynn,  Nicholas 
Longworth,  and  several  other  gentlemen,  replied  to  toasts. 

322 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BUCKEYE  TREE. 

An  oration  was  pronounced  by  Mr.  Joseph  Longworth, 
highly  spoken  of,  at  the  time.  Odes  were  delivered,  by 
Peyton  S.  Symmes,  and  Charles  D.  Drake,  Esq.,  and  one 
recited  from  the  pen  of  Mrs.  Hentze. 

At  this  dinner  native  wine  was  presented  by  Mr.  Long- 
worth,  its  first  appearance,  as  far  as  I  recollect,  on  a 
public  occasion.  From  the  remarks,  made  by  Mr.  Long- 
worth,  the  now  celebrated  Catawba  seems  to  have  been 
one  of  several  contending  for  supremacy,  rather  than  the 
established  victor,  which  it  now  seems  to  be. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  Dr.  Drake  gave  a  most  humor- 
ous and  ingenious  description  of  the  buckeye  tree,  part  of 
which  I  here  transcribe. 

"  The  tree  which  you  have  toasted,  Mr.  President,  has 
the  distinction  of  being  one  of  a  family  of  plants,  but  a 
few  species  of  which  exist  on  the  earth.  They  con- 
stitute the  genus  ^Esculu8  of  the  botanist,  which  belongs 
to  the  class  Heptandria.  Now  the  latter,  a  Greek  phrase, 
signifies  seven  men  /  and  there  happen  to  be  exactly 
seven  species  of  the  genus — thus  they  constitute  the  seven 
wise  men  of  the  woods ;  in  proof  of  which,  I  may  men- 
tion that  there  is  not  another  family  of  plants  on  the 
whole  earth,  that  possess  these  talismanic  attributes  of 
wisdom.  But  this  is  not  all.  Of  the  seven  species,  our 
emblem-tree  was  discovered  last — it  is  the  youngest  of 
the  family — the  seventh  son  !  and  who  does  not  know  the 
manifold  virtues  of  a  seventh  son  ! 
"Neither  Europe  nor  Africa  has  a  single  native  species 
.  of  jtEsculus,  and  Asia  but  one.  This  is  the  ^Esculus 
Hippocastinum  or  horsechesnut.  Nearly  three  hundred 
years  since,  a  minister  from  one  of  the  courts  of  Western 
Europe  to  that  of  Kussia,  found  this  tree  growing  in 


324  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE 

Moscow,  whither  it  had  been  brought  from  Siberia.  He 
was  struck  with  its  beauty,  and  naturalized  it  in  his  own 
country.  It  spread  with  astonishing  rapidity  over  that 
part  of  the  continent,  and  crossing  the  channel,  became 
one  of  the  favorite  shade-trees  of  our  English  ancestors. 
But  the  oppression  and  persecutions  recounted  in  the  ad- 
dress of  your  young  orator,  compelled  them  to  cross  the 
ocean  and  become  exiled  from  the  tree  whose  beautiful 
branches  overhung  their  cottage  doors. 

"  When  they  reached  this  continent  did  they  find  their 
favorite  shade-tree,  or  any  other  species  of  the  family,  to 
supply  its  place  in  their  affections  ?  They  did  not — they 
could  not — as  from  Jamestown  to  Plymouth,  the  soil  is 
too  barren  to  nourish  this  epicurean  plant.  Doubtless, 
their  first  impulse  was  to  seek  it  in  the  interior ;  but 
there  the  Indian  still  had  his  home,  and  they  were  com- 
pelled to  languish  on  the  sands  of  the  sea-board.  The 
revolution  came  and  passed  away;  it  was  a  political 
event,  and  men  still  hovered  on  the  coast ;  but  the  re- 
volving year  at  length  unfolded  the  map  of  the  mighty 
West,  and  our  fathers  began  to  direct  their  footsteps 
thitherward.  They  took  breath  on  the  eastern  base  of 
the  Alleghany  mountain,  without  having  found  the  ob- 
ject of  their  pursuits ;  then  scaled  its  lofty  summits — 
threaded  its  deep  and  craggy  defiles — descended  its  west- 
ern slopes — but  still  sought  in  vain.  The  hand  of  des- 
tiny, however,  seemed  to  be  upon  them ;  and  boldly  pene- 
trating the  unbroken  forest  of  the  Ohio,  amidst  savages 
and  beasts  of  prey,  they  finally  built  their  '  half-faced 
camps '  beneath  the  buckeye  tree.  All  their  hereditary 
and  traditional  feelings  were  now  gratified.  They  had 
not,  to  be  sure,  found  the  horsechesnut,  which  embellished 


HISTORY   OF  THE   BUCKEYE  TREE.  325 

the  paths  of  their  forefathers ;  but  a  tree  of  the  same  family, 
of  greater  size  and  equal  beauty,  and,  like  themselves, 
a  native  of  the  new  world.  Who,  of  this  young  assem- 
bly has  a  heart  so  cold,  as  not  to  sympathize  in  the  joyous 
emotions  which  this  discovery  must  have  raised?  It 
acted  on  them  like  a  charm — their  flagging  pulses  were 
quickened,  and  their  imaginations  warmed.  They  thought 
not  of  returning,  but  sent  back  pleasant  messages,  and 
invited  their  friends  to  follow.  Crowds  from  every  State 
in  the  Union  soon  pressed  forward,  and,  in  a  single  age, 
the  native  land  of  the  buckeye  became  the  home  of  mil- 
lions. Enterprise  was  animated ;  new  ideas  came  into 
men's  minds ;  bold  schemes  were  planned  and  executed; 
new  communities  organized  ;  political  states  established ; 
and  the  wilderness  transformed  as  if  by  enchantment. 

"  Such  was  the  power  of  the  buckeye  wand  ;  and  its 
influence  has  not  been  limited  to  the  West.  We  may 
fearlessly  assert,  that  it  has  been  felt  over  the  whole  of 
our  common  country.  Till  the  time  when  the  buckeye 
tree  was  discovered,  slow  indeed  had  been  the  progress  of 
society  in  the  new  world.  With  the  exception  of  the 
revolution,  but  little  had  been  achieved,  and  but  little 
was  in  prospect.  Since  that  era,  society  has  been  pro- 
gressive, higher  destinies  have  been  unfolded,  and  a 
reactive  BUCKEYE  influence,  perceptible  to  all  acute  ob- 
servers, must  continue  to  assist  in  elevating  our  beloved 
country  among  the  nations  of  the  earth." 

On  the  26th  of  December,  1838,  another  celebration 
took  place,  the  semi-centennial.  Many  of  the  pioneers 
were  invited. 

The  following  table  comprises  the  names  of  some  of 
the  pioneers  who  were  the  invited  guests  of  the  city,  at 


326 


LIFE   OF  DK.   DANIEL  DKAKE. 


its  first  semi-centennial  celebration,  on  the  26th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1838.  The  signatures,  etc.,  were  taken  by  JohnD. 
Jones,  Esq.,  and  the  original  deposited  with  the  archives 
of  the  city. 


Signatures. 

When  arrived  in 
the  West. 

Where  Born. 

1 

James  Taylor  

May  1,       1792 
April  1,     1793 
Dec.  23,     1788 
Dec.  12,     1789 
Dec.            1789 
April,         1798 
Nov.,         1787 
May,           1804 

Caroline  County,  Va. 
Massachusetts. 
New  Jersey. 
Greenwich,  Conn. 
New  York  City. 
New  Jersey, 
do 
High'ds  of  Scotland. 
Virginia. 
Massachusetts, 
Connecticut. 
Ireland. 
New  Jersey. 
Virginia. 
London, 
Pennsylvania, 
do 
Ohio. 
Virginia. 
Pennsylvania. 
New  York. 
New  Jersey. 
Delaware. 
Virginia. 
Pennsylvania. 
Ohio, 
do. 
Maryland. 
Pennsylvania. 
Maryland, 
^ew  Jersey. 
Maryland, 
^ew  Jersey. 

^ew  Jersey. 

Maryland. 
Newark,  N.  J. 
Virginia. 

70 
67 
57 
55 
94 
61 
67 
68 
54 
68 
64 
68 
47 
64 
70 
68 
50 
41 
68 
60 
85 
77 
49 
60 
50 
40 
44 
60 
55 
57 
60 
55 
52 

53 

60 
69 
66 

Clark  Bates  

Isaac  Dunn  

Ezra-Ferris  

J.  Bartle  

Jacob  Williams  

Israel  Donaldson  

Peter  McNicoll  

Reuben  Reeder  

March,       1791 

1788 
May,          1800 
June,          1797 
October,     1800 
October,     1781 
June,          1806 
April,         1798 
Dec,  25,     1793 
Nov.           1787 
Jan.  13,     1793 
April,         1785 
October,     1790 
1790 
1801 

Dec.           1792 

1798 
1794 

1798 
April,        1794 
Dec.,          1795 
1805 
Ky.,           1788 
Cincin.       1800 
April,         1787 
July,           1796 
Nov,           1791 

Hezekiah  Flint  

Charles  Cone  

John  Mahard  

Stephen  Wheeler  

J.  L.  Wilson,  (Rev.)  
T.  Henderson,  (Judge)... 
John  Matson  

David  Griffin  

Aaron  Valentine  

Wm  Burke,  (P.M.)  

Adi  el  McGuire  

James  Lyon,  Sen  

John  Riddle,  Sen  

Robert  Wallace  

Asa  Holcomb  

John  Whetstone  

Aaron  Gano  

Daniel  Gano  

Thomas  Stansberry  

Alexander  Gibson  

David  Kacety  

Elmore  Williams  

Edward  Dodson  
Henry  Graven  

Daniel  Drake,  (Orator)  | 
Charles  Hammond  

J  Burnet,  (Judge)  

Wm   H  Harrison  

DISCUSSION  OF  PROBLEMS.  327 

These  were  those  who  were  invited  only.  It  is  desir- 
able to  have  a  list  of  those  who  were  really  pioneers  in 
Cincinnati.  I  add  to  the  above  a  few  names,  which 
occur  to  my  own  recollection,  though  hundreds  ought  to 
be  added  : 

Oliver  M.  Spencer,  John  C.  Symmes,  Griffin  Yeat- 
man,  Daniel  Symmes,  Isaac  Bates,  Peyton  S.  Symmes, 
David  Zeigler,  Ethan  Stone,  Martin  Baum,  Samuel  Perry, 
General  Gano,  S.  Richardson,  John  Stites,  William  Cor- 
ry.  At  this  celebration  (1838)  Dr.  Drake  was  the  orator. 

Dr.  Drake  was  so  active-minded,  and  so  industrious, 
that,  with  all  the  pressure  of  incessant  engagements  and 
weighty  cares  upon  him,  he  was  also  a  most  interested 
and  excited  observer  and  investigator  of  all  the  new 
problems  which  arose,  and  the  discussions  going  on  in 
society.  Generally  he  entered  at  once  into  the  dis- 
cussion, was  not  satisfied  till  he  had  formed  in  his  own 
mind  some  sort  of  solution  to  the  puzzle ;  and  this  he  did 
with  the  utmost  care,  labor,  and  research.  Among  the 
insoluble  problems  of  Western  medicine,  was  that  of  the 
"Milk-Sickness"  or  "  Trembles"  In  one  of  his  journeys, 
he  investigated  that  subject,  and  published  the  result  in  a 
memoir  on  that  disease.  He  did  not  solve  the  problem, 
but  seemed  to  incline  to  one  view.  After  analysing 
thoroughly  the  supposed  causes  of  Milk-Sickness,  and 
rejecting  them,  he  closes  with  this  result. 

"  5.  Rhus  Toxicodendron  of  Linnaeus.  This  is  the 
last  plant  which  we  propose  to  examine  in  connection 
with  the  Trembles.  Its  botanical  history  first  claims  our 
attention.  By  Linnaeus,  and  the  followers  of  that  great 
man,  it  was  regarded  as  an  humble  shrub,  of  virulent 
properties,  growing  in  some  of  same  localities  with  what 
was  considered  as  a  distinct  species  of  rhus>  and  called 


328  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

by  him  mdicans,  from  the  radicles  by  which  its  ascend- 
ing stem  attaches  itself  to  the  loftiest  trees.  Later  botan- 
ists have,  however,  made  but  one  species  of  the  two,  and 
Drs.  Torrey  and  Gray,  in  their  great  standard  work,  the 
Flora  of  North  America,  now  publishing,  have  adopted 
this  consolidation — making  varieties  of  the  two  Linnsean 
species,  and  applying  to  both  the  specific  epithet  toxi- 
codendron.  One,  the  former  of  these  varieties,  present- 
ing a  single,  smooth,  and  unbranching  stem,  has  received 
the  popular  name  of  poison-oak ;  the  other,  a  climbing 
vine  with  many  branches,  is  called  poison-vine,  and 
poison-ivy.  They  have  no  claim,  however,  to  be  regard- 
ed even  as  varieties;  for,  as  we  ascertained  while  in 
the  district,  they  are  but  different  stems  from  the  same 
root.  This  was  done  by  detaching  the  variety  radicans^ 
or  poison-vine,  from  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  and  tearing 
tip  its  roots,  when  stems  of  the  variety  toxicodendron^ 
or  poison-oak,  came  up  attached  to  them ;  being,  in  fact, 
but  scions,  like  those  which  the  white  flowering  locust 
(rolinia  pseudacacia)  is  known  to  send  up ;  and  which 
no  botanist  would  think  of  erecting  into  a  separate  varie- 
ty from  the  tree  itself.  It  is  true  that  these  separate 
stems  or  scions  of  rhus,  are  without  radicles ;  but  so 
are  the  limbs  or  branches  of  the  main  trunk  of  the  as- 
cending vine.  These  branches,  however,  when  they 
grow  into  contact  with  a  solid  body,  or  even  happen  in 
crossing  each  other  to  touch,  immediately  sent  out  radi- 
cles ;  and  the  stems  of  the  scions,  whenever  they  find  a 
solid  support,  likewise  do  the  same.  It  seems,  indeed, 
to  be  a  law  of  the  vegetation  of  this  plant,  that  it  sends 
forth  radicles,  alike  above  and  below  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  when  in  contact  with  solid  matter,  but  it  never 
produces  them,  in  the  absence  of  such  contact  with  solid 


DISCUSSION   OF   PROBLEMS.  329 

matter,  but  it  never  produces  them,  in  the  absence  of 
such  contact,  when  they  could  be  of  no  use  to  the  plant. 

When  the  R.  toxicodendron  grows  in  dry  situations 
and  hard  ground,  it  sends  up  few  or  no  shoots  ;  and  the 
so  called,  poison-oak  disappears ;  but  when  it  finds 
itself  radicated  in  a  rich,  loose,  and  permanently  moist 
soil,  it  sends  out  its  horizontal  roots  far  and  wide,  from 
which  start  up  numerous  shoots,  that  rise  to  the  height 
of  two  or  three  feet,  and  present  a  shrubbery  of  what  is 
called  poison-oak. 

Now,  it  is  precisely  under  these  circumstances  that  we 
find  the  R.  toxicodendron  in  the  slashes  of  the  oak-pla- 
teaus, where  the  Trembles  are  generated.  And  the  num- 
ber of  vines  is  so  great  as  to  encircle  and  garnish  a 
majority  of  all  the  trees  which  grow  in  these  fertile  spots. 

By  these  statements  and  explanations  we  are  prepared 
to  inquire  into  the  validity  of  the  opinion,  that  this  plant 
is  the  cause  of  Trembles.  This  may  be  said  to  be  the 
popular  opinion  of  the  district.  An  aged  and  respec- 
table farmer,  three  miles  from  South  Charleston,  whose 
name  we  did  not  record,  informed  us  that,  more  than 
thirty  years  ago,  when  he  first  emigrated  to  Ohio  from 
Kentucky,  he  followed,  in  the  snow,  the  tracks  of  seve- 
ral horses,  to  a  pond  where  they  went  for  drink,  and 
found  that  they  had  eaten  liberally  of  the  tender  stems  of 
what  he  called  the  poison-oak.  They  were  soon  after- 
wards seized  wTith  the  Trembles.  We  mention  this  fact 
chiefly  to  show  the  antiquity,  in  the  district,  of  this  opin- 
ion. That  it  has  been  cherished  so  long,  and  by  so  many, 
is  some  evidence  of  its  truth.  But  we  cannot  allow  that 
it  rests  upon  positive  observations  and  experiments.  We 
shall  proceed  to  state  such  of  the  facts  and  arguments  on 

both  sides  of  the  question,  as  were  collected,  or  occurred 

28 


330 


LIFE   OF  DANIEL   DRAKE. 


to  us  while  in  the  district,  beginning  with  those  which 
oppose  the  opinion. 

First.  It  has  been  said  that  this  plant  grows  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  district,  where  the  Trembles  do  not  oc- 
cur. To  this  we  reply,  that  they  present  but  few  slashes, 
have  not  much  of  the  climbing  vine,  and  from  the  con- 
dition of  the  surface,  it  sends  up  but  few  scions.  It  is  not, 
therefore,  wTithin  the  reach,  or  is  much  less  within  the 
reach  of  herbivorous  animals,  than  in  those  tracts  where 
the  Trembles  prevail. 

Second.  Many  cattle  run  on  the  slashes  where  the 
scions  of  the  rhus  grow  abundantly,  without  contracting 
the  disease.  But  it  does  not  follow  that  all  herbivorous 
animals,  which  go  at  large,  will  eat  the  rhus.  It  has, 
moreover,  this  peculiarity :  its  poison  affects  only  a  part 
of  the  people  who  handle  it ;  and  the  same  poison,  may 
only  affect  a  part  of  the  animals  that  eat  it.  This  objec- 
tion, however,  may  be  raised  against  any  other  plant ; 
or,  indeed,  any  cause  whatever,  with  as  much  propriety 
as  against  the  rhus.  Of  the  inhabitants  residing  in  the 
same  region,  some  in  autumn  will  escape  bilious  fever, 
and  others  to  be  taken  down,  while  all  are  equally  exposed. 

Third.  Dr.  McGarrough  states,  that  a  gentleman  in 
Washington,  a  few  years  ago,  enclosed  a  large  woodland 
pasture,  adjoining  the  town  plat,  in  which  there  were 
several  acres  overspread  with  this  vine.  It  was  eaten 
down  by  his  cattle,  all  of  which,  however,  remained  well. 
To  this  fact,  we  may  add,  that  in  the  latter  part  of  Sep- 
tember last,  Mr.  Albert  Douglass,  a  student  of  medicine, 
at  our  reduest,  when  sojourning  on  his  father's  farm 
in  Fayette  county,  subjected  a  steer  to  the  use  of  this 
plant,  mixed  with  hay,  for  ten  days,  without  any  injuri- 
ous effect,  although  the  animal  ate  it  freely.  On  the 


DISCUSSION   OF   PROBLEMS.  331 

former  of  these  facts  we  may  remark,  that  as  all  the 
woodlands  about  Washington  have  been  charged  with 
producing  Trembles,  and  are,  as  we  know  not  only  from 
the  growth  of  the  Rhus  upon  them,  but  from  personal 
observation,  precisely  of  the  kind  which  generates  the 
disease,  the  experiment  is  as  valid  against  every  other 
cause  as  against  the  Rhus.  Of  the  second,  we  may  say, 
that  before  the  experiment  was  commenced,  the  leaves  had 
been  touched  by  frost,  and  might  have  lost  their  activity ; 
and  that  the  animal  might  have  had  a  peculiarity  of  con- 
stitution which  rendered  it  as  insusceptible  to  the  action 
of  the  poison  as  was  the  person  who  gathered  the  leaves 
to  its  action  on  his  skin. 

Fourth.  There  is  no  conclusive  evidence  of  a  single 
case  of  Trembles  having  been  produced  by  the  Rhus  ; 
which  militates  against  the  theory,  inasmuch  as  the 
abundance  of  the  plant,  and  the  long  period  through 
which  the  attention  of  the  people  of  the  district  has  turn- 
ed upon  it,  might  have  been  expected  to  bring  out  some 
well  authenticated  case. 

We  shall  now  proceed  to  consider  the  affirmative,  in 
doing  which,  we  shall  bring  this  plant  to  the  tests  which 
have  been  laid  down. 

First.  It  exhales  a  noxious  effluvium,  and  appears  to 
contain  a  poisonous  juice. 

Second.  It  is  of  a  proper  size  to  be  eaten  by,  while  it 
is  accessible  to,  all  the  herbivorous  animals  which  are 
subject  to  the  disease. 

Third.  Cattle  and  horses  are  known  to  eat  it,  when 
not  constrained  to  do  so  by  the  want  of  other  food. 

Fourth.  It  is  in  leaf  in  summer  and  autumn,  when  the 
disease  chiefly  prevails ;  and  its  pithy  and  tender  stems, 
may  be  eaten  in  winter. 


332  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

Fifth.  It  grows  abundantly  in  and  around  the  spots 
which  appear  to  produce  the  disease ;  and  most  abund- 
antly where  the  disease  has  prevailed  most;  as  on 
the  plateau  west  of  London;  while  it  is  scarce  in  all 
those  portions  of  the  district,  from  which  the  disease  is 
absent. 

Sixth.  By  cutting  down  or  deadening  the  trees  to 
which  the  rhus  attaches  itself,  and  by  breaking  up 
the  surface  of  the  ground,  the  whole  plant  is  imme- 
diately destroyed,  and  with  this  change  the  disease  dis- 
appears. 

Thus  the  rhus  toxicodendron  stands  the  whole  of 
our  proposed  tests.  Does  this,  however,  prove  it  to  be 
the  cause  of  Trembles  ?  Certainly  not,  but  it  shows,  that 
this  plant  may  he  the  cause,  and  renders  the  popular 
opinion  of  the  district  highly  probable. 

PREVENTION  OF  THE  TREMBLES  AND  MILK-SICKNESS. 

According  to  the  facts  and  views  of  this  memoir,  the 
prevention  of  Milk-Sickness  within  the  district,  (and  we 
shall  not  extend  our  conclusions  beyond  its  narrow  limits,) 
depends  on  securing  milch  cows  and  beef  cattle  from 
the  action  of  the  cause  of  Trembles.  This  may  be  done 
either  by  confining  them  to  cultivated  pastures,  whera 
they  are  always  safe,  or  by  destroying  the  cause,  whea 
they  might  run  at  large  with  equal  impunity. 

As  to  cultivation,  it  is  not  even  necessary  to  cut  down 
the  timber  and  clear  it  off,  to  bring  about  the  desirablG 
security.  Deadening  it  and  letting  it  remain  in  the  sun, 
answers  the  purpose,  especially  if  the  spots  be  sown  with 
the  seeds  of  any  of  the  grasses.  The  effect  of  this  deaden- 
ing is  to  kill  the  rhus ;  not  merely  its  ascending  stem, 
which  is  necessarily  cut  through  in  the  process  of  girdling 


PREVENTION  OF  THE  TREMBLES.  333 

the  tree,  but  also  the  root ;  and  with  it,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  the  shrubbery  of  scions  called  poison-oak.  Thus, 
with  one  day's  labor,  a  single  man,  might  not  only  destroy 
all  the  poison-oak  in  many  of  these  slashes,  but  set  on  foot 
an  extensive  change  in  its  vegetation,  which  in  a  couple 
of  years  would  be  completed  without  any  other  labor ; 
though  the  result  would  be  rendered  more  certain,  by 
foddering  cattle  upon  them  for  a  winter,  or  harrowing  the 
surface,  or  mowing  down  the  weeds,  and  sowing  it  with 
grass  seed. 

In  conclusion  we  may  say,  that  if  these  spots  generate 
the  disease,  it  could  be  of  no  practical  utility  to  know 
that  a  plant  is  the  special  cause,  much  less  to  know  the 
particular  plant,  if  it  has  not  already  been  discovered 
in  the  rhus  /  for  it  could  not  be  destroyed  in  any  other 
way,  than  that  which  has  been  pointed  out — a  method 
which,  from  much  personal  observation  in  the  district, 
we  are  persuaded  is  infallible. 

To  exclude  the  cause  from  cultivated  fields,  can  be 
neither  difficult  nor  expensive,  to  any  but  pioneers  of  the 
forest ;  and  if  the  evil  were  limited  to  them,  the  subject 
would  scarcely  deserve  further  investigation.  The  Trem- 
bles, however,  destroy  cattle,  horses,  hogs  and  sheep,  which 
constitute  a  large  portion  of  the  personal  property  of  the 
farmers  of  the  district,  few  of  whom  are  or  can  be  pre- 
pared to  pasture  the  whole  of  their  stock ;  and  hence  the 
necessity,  if  possible,  of  extirpating  its  cause.  The  peo- 
ple have  constantly  assumed  that  if  the  cause  could  be 
discovered,  it  could  of  course  be  removed.  But  this 
might  or  might  not  be  the  case.  Suppose  it  were  a 
mineral  impregnation  of  the  water?  it  could  not  be  cor- 
rected; or  malaria?  its  generation  could  not,  in  all  proba- 
bility be  prevented;  or  a  plant,  disseminated  among 


334:  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DKAKE. 

others  ?  it  could  not  be  eradicated,  leaving  them  behind. 
Our  inquiries  have  led  us  to  the  last  as  the  most  probable 
conclusion ;  and  we  have  made  some  efforts  to  discover 
the  particular  species ;  but  these  efforts  were  instigated 
more  by  the  desire  to  gratify  popular  and  scientific  curi- 
osity, than  under  the  conviction  that  when  discovered 
it  could  be  destroyed  by  any  other  means  than  those 
which  would,  at  the  same  time,  destroy  its  companions 
of  the  forest.  With  these  views  before  us,  we  must  re- 
gard the  discovery  of  the  kind  of  locality,  which  gives 
rise  to  the  disease,  as  the  greatest  that  could  be  made ; 
and  the  only  one  which  is  necessary  to  the  choice  and 
execution  of  the  requisite  measures  of  prevention. 

Now,  throughout  this  memoir,  we  have  almost  adopted 
the  opinion,  that  the  elm  and  rhus  slashes  of  the  oak 
plateaus,  and  these  alone,  are  the  abode  of  the  special 
cause  of  the  Trembles ;  but  candor  requires  us  to  say, 
that  this  has  not  been  conclusively  proven  ;  nor  is  it  the 
opinion  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  district,  for  we  met 
with  several  intelligent  and  observing  persons  who 
believed  that  the  drier  and  more  extensive  portions  of 
the  plateaus,  and  they  only,  generate  the  special  cause. 

The  final  decision  of  this  question  cannot  be  made 
without  additional  facts. 

The  next  problem  which  the  doctor  investigated  was 
that  of  Mesmeric  Somniloquism  ;  and  this  he-  did,  mi- 
putely  and  carefully,  in  an  extended  examination  of  mes- 
meric patients.  The  result  was  what  might  have  been 
expected,  that  while  some  of  i\\Q  facts  asserted  were  real, 
yet  they  depended  not,  in  the  least,  on  the  transfusion  of 
ideas  from  one  person  to  another,  nor  on  what  is  called 
clairvoyance.  They  are  simply  modifications  of  that 
state  of  mind  and  body  which  exists  in  somnambulism. 


MESMERIC   SOMNILOQUISM.  335 

I  cannot  quote  extensively  enough  from  bis  "Analytical 
.Report"  to  give  his  entire  views.  But  the  following 
extract  will  enable  the  reader  to  perceive  his  general 
theory  of  this  subject : 

"There  are  two  modifications  of  somniloquism  and 
somnambulism  which  should  be  recognized  in  this  in- 
quiry. The  first  is  the  reverie,  which  sometimes  alter- 
nates with  convulsions,  in  which  the  individual  displays 
a  strong  current  of  connected  thoughts  with  appropriate 
feelings,  accompanied  with  suitable  action  ;  but  is  wholly 
inattentive  to  all  surrounding  objects  or  persons,  except 
when  they,  or  what  they  say,  can  be  incorporated  with 
the  catenation  of  ideas.  This  state  of  mind  is  generally 
of  short  duration.  The  second  may  be  called  a  protracted 
reverie,  or  prolonged  somnambulism ;  continuing  for 
days,  and  even  weeks,  during  which  the  individual  will 
act  and  converse  with  those  around  him,  in  an  altered 
manner,  and  not  in  full  sympathy  with  them.  In  com- 
ing out  of  this  condition,  the  mind  takes  up  the  ideas  on 
which  it  happened  to  be  occupied  at  the  access  of  the 
paroxysm ;  and  is  unconscious  of  its  having  existed ; 
indeed,  may  remember  no  part  of  it;  but  upon  the 
return  of  the  fit  will  recollect  the  whole. 

"  The  principal  characteristics,  then,  of  ordinary  som- 
nambulism and  somniloquism,  including,  in  part  at  least, 
the  curious  varieties  just  mentioned,  are  the  following : 

First.  "  They  occur  chiefly  in  young  persons  of  both 
sexes,  in  those  of  a  delicate  nervous  system,  and  in  con- 
nection with  bad  health. 

Second.  "  In  some  cases,  the  sense  of  sight  seems  to 
be  greatly  increased  in  acuteness,  or  that  of  feeling,  or 
the  instinct  of  the  individual,  in  some  mysterious  way,  is 
substituted  for  it. 


336  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL  DKAKE. 

Third.  "There  is  great  abstraction.  The  attention 
of  the  person  is  entirely  concentrated  on  the  train  of 
thoughts  which  is  passing  through  his  mind  ;  and  he  is, 
consequently,  insensible  to  what  is  around  him,  and  even 
to  violence  on  his  body.  But  if,  by  chance  or  persever- 
ance, his  attention  should  be  gained,  he  may,  in  general, 
be  guided  both  in  his  thoughts  and  actions.  His  state 
of  mind  may  be  modified  without  his  being  awakened. 

Fourth.  "There  is  a  spontaneous,  inherent  activity 
of  imagination,  which  excites  into  action  the  muscles  of 
locomotion  and  speech. 

"Let  us  now  compare  mesmeric  with  natural  som- 
nambulism and  somniloquism. 

First.  "It  is  chiefly  producible  in  children  and 
young  persons  of  both  sexes  ;  in  individuals  of  frail  and 
susceptible  nervous  systems ;  and  in  natural  sleepwalkers 
or  members  of  families  in  which  somnambulism  prevails. 

Second.  "  Of  all  the  alleged  phenomena  of  this  state, 
none  have  excited  more  wonder  than  those  connected 
with  the  sense  of  sight;  which  has  been  said  to  be 
greatly  increased  in  acuteness,  and  even  transferred  from 
the  optic  to  other  nerves.  This  is  the  clairvoyance  of 
writers  on  mesmerism. 

Third.  "In  this  condition,  the  abstraction  of  mind  is 
so  great  that  the  individual  is  inattentive  to  impressions 
which,  in  the  waking  state,  would  give  acute  pain  ;  and 
cannot  be  spoken  with,  except  by  the  mesmerizer,  who 
had  her  attention  from  the  beginning,  or  by  persons 
introduced  by  him. 

"These  analogies  between  ordinary  and  mesmeric 
somniloquism,  if  not  overcome  by  a  greater  number  of 
differences,  must  lead  to  the  conclusion,  that  they  are 
but  varieties  of  the  same  curious  condition  of  the  ner- 


MESMERIC   SOMNILOQUISM.  337 

vous  system.  Now  what  are  the  contrarieties  ?  They 
seem  to  me  to  be  the  two  following :  First.  The  mesmeric 
state  is  more  cataleptic — attended  with  less  locomotion, 
and  displays  much  less  of  a  somnambulic  character. 
Second.  It  is  attended  with  less  talking,  the  individual 
seldom  speaking  except  when  spoken  to,  then  generally 
answering  in  a  single  sentence,  and  relapsing  into  si- 
lence. From  these  two  facts  we  may  conclude,  that  the 
mind  is  inactive,  that  the  animating  dream  is  wanting, 
and,  of  course,  there  is  absence  of  spontaneous  walking 
and  talking.  If  locomotion  and  loquacity  were  added, 
by  an  active  instead  of  a  passive  state  of  the  imagina- 
tion, the  two  conditions — ordinary  and  mesmeric — would 
appear  to  be  identical. 

"There  is  then  no  credulity  in  admitting  the  reality 
of  mesmeric  somniloquism  ;  and  although,  no  doubt,  it 
is  often  simulated  for  gain,  I  am  disposed  to  regard  it  as 
a  fact,  and  reason  upon  it  accordingly. 

"  It  is  affirmed,  however,  that  a  peculiar  sympathy 
of  both  body  and  mind  exists  on  the  part  of  the  mes- 
meric somniloquist  with  the  mesmerizer  and  those  intro- 
duced, or,  as  the  technical  phrase  is,  put  in  communica- 
tion. But  this  sympathy  is  not  reciprocal.  It  is  con- 
fined to  the  somniloquist,  who,  it  is  asserted,  can  be 
made  to  experience  the  same  feelings  of  both  body  and 
mind,  and  entertain  the  same  thoughts,  as  the  person  in 
conversation  with  her,  and  this  in  some  unknown  man- 
ner, by  some  occult  influence,  altogether  independent  of 
the  ordinary  means  of  intercourse  by  the  senses.  Let  it 
here  be  particularly  noted,  that  it  is  not  a  stimulation  of 
the  body  or  mind  of  the  somniloquist  into  increased 
activity,  her  own  sensations  and  thoughts  being  the 
objects  of  her  consciousness ;  but  an  actual  infusion  of 

29 


338  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

the  feelings  and  thoughts  of  the  person  in  communica- 
tion, at  the  expense  of  those  belonging  to  the  somnilo- 
quist,  and  that,  too,  to  such  a  degree,  that  if  she  had 
pleasurable  sensations  of  the  body  before,  she  would,  in 
the  midst  of  them  suffer  pain,  if  his  body  were  wounded ; 
and  although  she  might  retain  her  own  consciousness  so 
far  as  to  understand  and  answer  questions  put  to  her 
through  the  medium  of  the  ear,  still  that  her  predomi- 
nant ideas  are  those  impressed  on  her  mind,  which 
arise  simultaneously  with  their  origin  in  the  mind  of  the 
person  who  is  in  communication.  This  is  the  mysteri- 
ous and  incomprehensible  mental  state  of  the  mesmeric 
somniloquist,  and  to  the  ascertainment  of  its  reality,  the 
experiments  of  the  association  were  directed. 

"Before  proceeding  to  speculate  upon  them,  we  must 
refer  to  what  seems  to  us  almost  an  insuperable  difficulty.. 

"The  proposition  is,  that  the  person  in  communica- 
tion raises  in  the  somniloquist  a  state  of  mind  identical 
with  his  own ;  if  so,  how  can  conversation  be  main- 
tained ?  Will  he  not  supply  the  answers  as  well  as  the 
questions  ?  And,  as  long  as  he  remains  in  communica- 
tion, how  can  the  somniloquist  have  any  thoughts  of  her 
own  ?  Or  how  can  she  have  them  at  one  moment,  and 
not  at  another  when  the  stream  of  influence  is  perpetual, 
seeing  that  it  is  not  under  the  control  of  the  will,  and 
that  the  person  in  communication  thinks  incessantly  ? 
In  ordinary  circumstances  when  a  question  is  asked,  the 
person  to  whom  it  is  put,  is  left  to  frame  the  answer 
according  to  the  laws  of  his  own  mind,  and  the  kind 
and  amount  of  his  own  knowledge:  but  in  the  case  we 
are  considering,  nothing  is  spoken,  nor  is  there  any  effort 
made  by  the  person  in  communication  except  that  of 
thinking  with  energy.  When  he  has  done  this  for  a 


MESMERIC   SOMNILOQUISM.  339 

short  time,  he  wishes  to  know  its  effect,  and  then  frames 
and  puts  the  question, ;  but  in  doing  this,  his  state  of 
mind  necessarily  changes,  and  he  becomes  attentive  to 
the  expected  answer.  Now  how  does  it  happen,  that 
this  new  state  of  mind  is  not  impressed  on  that  of  the 
somniloquist,  like  that  which  immediately  preceded  it  ? 
But  if  impressed,  it  must  bring  hers  into  the  same  con- 
dition with  his  own,  that  is,  waiting  for  a  reply,  and  of 
course  she  could  not  make  it :  if  not  impressed,  it  is  cer- 
tainly an  argument  against  the  infusion  into  her  mind  of 
what  he  first  thought  over.  The  alleged  ability  of  the 
somniloquist  to  give  an  account  of  her  consciousness, 
while  the  person  remains  in  communication,  during 
which,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  case,  she  has  his 
thoughts,  is,  then,  a  paradox,  and  seems  to  be  an  absurdity. 

4;I  will  not,  however,  dwell  on  this  difficulty,  but  pro- 
ceed to  state  and  discuss  the  subject  of  intellectual  sym- 
pathy in  as  fair  and  candid  a  manner  as  possible. 

"The  proposition  is,  that  when  a  person  is  put  into 
communication  with  one  who  is  in  mesmeric  somnilo- 
quism,  a  secret  agent  or  influence  passes  from  him,  and 
raises  in  her  perceptions  and  thoughts  identical  with 
his  own  ;  the  evidence  of  which  is  furnished  by  the  an- 
swers which  she  gives  to  the  questions,  which  are  put 
to  her  by  the  mouth  through  the  ear.  The  point  I  mean 
to  discuss  is,  whether,  in  reference  to  the  report  I  am 
reviewing,  it  is  necessary  to  adopt  the  theory  of  a  mys- 
terious agency,  to  account  for  the  true  or  conformable 
answers  it  contains.  I  shall  assume,  not  affirm,  that  it 
is  not,  and  proceed  to  suggest  how  most  of  her  answers 
might  have  been  brought  out,  according  to  the  established 
laws  of  the  human  mind. 

"It  is  an  undeniable  fact,  that  a  mesmeric  somniloquist 


34:0  LIFE   OF  DK.   DANIEL  DKAKE. 

is  not  asleep,  nor  in  delirium,  insanity,  or  idiotism,  but 
in  an  extremely  passive  and  quiescent  state  of  mind — 
not  so  sluggish  and  insensible  as  not  to  comprehend  a 
question,  but  too  torpid  to  put  forth  mental  manifesta- 
tions, without  its  stimulus.  And  herein  lies  the  most 
obvious  difference  between  her  intellectual  condition  and 
that  of  a  natural  somniloquist,  who  is  made  to  walk  and 
talk,  by  the  quickening  impulse  on  his  organs  of  loco- 
motion and  speech,  of  a  dream  or  a  reverie,  the  essence 
of  which  is  an  excited  imagination.  What  such  an  one 
(the  natural  somniloquist)  sees,  is,  of  course,  the  creation 
of  his  own  mind;  what  he  does,  is  prompted  by  his 
dream.  The  current  of  his  thoughts  is  strong — too  strong, 
in  most  cases  to  be  interrupted,  and  the  individual  who 
happens  to  get  into  communication  with  him,  will,  in 
many  cases,  be  compelled  to  go  with  the  current,  or 
part  company;  sometimes,  however,  he  may  get  the 
mastery,  and  by  his  questions  and  remarks  turn  the 
stream  of  thought  into  other  channels.  The  mind  of  the 
mesmeric  somniloquist,  like  stagnant  water,  is  without 
this  current,  but  is  capable  of  being  excited  by  external 
influences,  as  the  pool  may  be  agitated  by  mechanical » 
force.  According  to  the  nature,  direction,  and  mode  of 
action  of  this  force,  the  undulations  and  currents  establish- 
ed by  it  will  vary ;  and  in  the  same  way,  when  the  exter- 
nal influences,  the  remarks  and  interrogations,  which  are 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  mesmeric  somniloquist,  may 
vary  in  their  substance  or  manner,  they  will  raise  in  her 
a  variety  of  mental  conceptions,  stir  up  her  imagination 
to  various  creations.  Of  these  creations  she  is  immediately 
conscious,  arid  her  replies  express  that  consciousness. 
Thus  the  question  itself  is  what  arouses  her  imagination, 
and  the  answer  announces,  not  what  existed  in  her  mind 


MESMERIC   SOMNILOQUISM.  341 

by  secret  infusion  previously  to  his  putting  the  ques- 
tion, but  what  was  created  between  the  time  of  hearing 
the  interrogatory  and  sending  forth  the  reply.  Hence 
the  necessity  of  a  lapse  of  time  between  the  question 
and  the  answer.  In  the  beginning  of  a  conversation  this 
is  sometimes  to  be  counted  by  minutes ;  but  after  the  im- 
age of  a  particular  object  is  once  formed  in  the  mind,  the 
answers  concerning  its  properties  and  parts,  are  obtained 
in  more  rapid  succession ;  because  when  the  imagination 
has  once  decided  on  the  object,  the  various  characteristics 
of  it  may  be  created  instantaneously,  as  in  the  waking 
state,  and  still  more  in  dreams.  The  chief  difficulty  lies 
in  getting  it  to  decide.  Sometimes,  however,  this  may 
be  instantaneous,  because  what  is  said  may  suggest  some 
object,  or  several,  one  of  which,  according  to  the  laws  of 
suggestion  will,  instanter^  be  adopted.  Thus,  to  come  to 
the  facts  of  the  report,  when  Mr.  0.  D.  asked,  what  have 
I  in  my  hand  ?  a  horse,  a  man,  a  landscape,  a  boat,  and 
all  other  objects  not  capable  of  being  held  in  the  hand, 
would  be  instantly  rejected,  and  the  imagination  would 
only  have  to  select  out  of  those  which  could  be  grasped. 
In  doing  this  it  would  of  course  choose  one  that  was  famil- 
iar, because  familiar  ideas  would  first  come  up.  Hence, 
although  the  somniloquist  might  have  heard  of,  or  occa- 
sionally seen,  a  Hindoo  idol,  a  pine-apple,  a  pocket 
compass,  or  a  silver  lancet-case,  neither  of  these  objects, 
under  the  laws  of  mental  association,  could  present  itself 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  objects  with  which  her  mind  was 
previously  familiar ;  and  hence  she. answered  u  a  book," 
and,  under  a  series  of  questions  which  did  not  deny  the 
truth  of  her  answer,  described  it  as  such  ;  although  what 
he  held  and  saw,  was  a  silver  lancet-case.  Again.  When 
Mr.  I.  J..  while  looking  at  a  book,  as  a  first  question, 


34:2  LIFE  OF  DK.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

asked  her  what  she  saw,  she  answered  "  a  building ; "  but 
when  he  asked  whether  he  held  anything  in  his  hand  ? 
she  answered  something  white ;  and,  under  a  series  of 
questions  concerning  its  properties,  at  last  had  the  true 
image  raised  in  her  mind,  and  it  seemed  to  her  like  a 
a  book.  Further :  when  Mr.  K.  L.  asked  her  to  visit 
England  with  him,  it  was  not  at  all  probable  that  after 
having,  in  imagination,  reached  that  country,  she  would, 
on  being  questioned,  see  a  watch  in  his  hand,  or  the  inte- 
rior of  the  Mammoth  cave,  or  a  group  of  Indians,  but 
some  object  of  which  she  had  heard  or  read,  as  attracting 
the  attention  of  travelers  in  that  country,  and,  almost  as 
a  matter  of  course,  her  imagination  presented  her  with 
the  image  of  an  old  stone  church,  of  a  peculiar  kind. 
Further  still :  when  Mr.  G.  EL,  without  having  direct- 
ed her  attention  to  any  foreign  place,  proposed  to  take  a 
walk  and  see  fine  things,  her  imagination  would  not  pre- 
sent the  scenery  or  objects  of  distant  lands,  nor  the  peo- 
ple and  drays  of  the  streets  of  Louisville,  but  some  object 
belonging  to  the  class  of  pleasant  sights,  and  it  fixed  on  a 
large  building ;  and  when  he  asked,  what  of  the  top  ?  her 
imagination  was  so  directed  as  to  present  a  spire,  the  object 
presented  in  his  mind,  and  quite  familiar  to  her  own  from 
being  seen  every  day.  Again :  when  he  asked  her  to 
cross  the  mountains  with  him,  it  would  at  once  raise  in 
her  the  idea  of  objects  on  that  side ;  of  which  the  most 
impressive  are  the  sea-ports,  and  instead  of  seeing  cotton- 
fields,  the  ruins  of  Panama,  or  a  book,  she  would  of  ne- 
cessity, the  laws  of  mental  suggestion  being  in  force,  see 
something  which  belongs  to  the  region  where,  in  imagina- 
tion, she  had  gone  ;  and  that  something  was  a  building, 
not  very  high  nor  very  low,  with  columns ;  although  the 
Washington  monument,  at  Baltimore,  was  in  his  mind ; 


NORTHERN   LAKES. 

and  when  he  asked  what  was  to  be  seen  from  the  top  of 
it,  her  fancy  would  not  be  likely  to  picture  a  cat  or  a  snuff- 
box, or  a  painting,  but  to  create,  as  it  did,  a  panorama  of 
hills,  water,  and  houses.  When  Mr.  C.  D.  asked  her  what 
she  saw,  she  promptly  answered  a  large  house,  which  was 
correct:  and  when  he  inquired  what  peculiarity?  she 
answered  columns, which  was  likewise  correct.  What, 
at  that  moment,  determined  her  mind  to  fix  on  a  building, 
cannot  be  known,  any  more  than  we  can  know  what  sug- 
gested to  her  the  same  object,  while  Mr.  I.  J.  was  looking 
at  a  Hebrew  Bible,  and  Mr.  G.  H.  thinking  of  a  human 
skull.  Such  answers  as  the  latter  relieve  us  from  the  ne- 
*cessity  of  concluding  that  Mr.  C.  D.  had  sympathetically 
impressed  her  with  the  image  of  a  building ;  from  which 
we  are  still  further  relieved  by  the  fact,  that  her  imagina- 
tion immediately  entered  the  house  which  it  had  created, 
and  consistently  presented  her  with  rooms  and  persons 
standing." 

This  extract  by  no  means  includes  his  whole  argument, 
but  it  is  enough  to  show  his  conclusion — which  is,  that 
mesmeric  somniloquism  is  only  another  branch  of  the 
well-known  phenomena  of  somnambulism;  and  the 
facts  relating  to  the  answers  made,  supposed  sympa- 
thies, &c.,  are  only  the  consequences  of  excited  sensibili- 
ties and  the  suggestions  of  imagination  arising  out  of 
the  circumstances  which  were  familiar  to  the  subject. 

In  1842,  Dr.  Drake  having  visited  the  Northern  Lakes 
and  investigated  their  characteristics,  either  of  scenery  or 
health,  published  a  "  Discourse  on  Northern  Lakes  and 
Southern  Invalids"  which  was  one  of  his  most  elegant 
and  interesting  performances.  I  extract  some  portions 
of  it,  as  likely  to  please  the  reader,  as  well  as  give  a 
view  of  his  discursive  and  merely  literary  style : 


34:4  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DBAKE. 

"When  the  southwest  winds,  which  have  traversed  the 
vast  plain  separating  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  from  the 
lakes,  reach  the  shores  of  the  latter,  they  are  necessarily 
dry  and  hot.  Hence,  the  temperature  of  Buffalo,  Erie, 
Cleveland,  Sandusky,  Toledo,  Detroit,  and  Chicago,  in 
the  average  latitude  of  42°,  is  quite  as  great  as  their  po- 
sition should  experience — greater,  perhaps,  than  the 
traveler  from  Louisiana  or  Carolina  would  expect.  But 
the  duration  of  these  winds  is  at  no  time  very  long,  and 
whenever  they  change  to  any  point  of  the  compass,  north 
or  west,  they  bring  down  a  fresh  and  cool  atmosphere, 
to  revive  the  constitutions  of  all  whom  they  had  wilted 
down.  These  breathings  from  the  north  descend  from  the 
highlands  around  Lake  Superior,  which  are  nearly  as  ele- 
vated above  the  sea  as  the  mountains  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  stretch  off  beyond  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  to 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  In  passing  over  that  lake,  with 
Michigan  and  Huron  immediately  south  of  it,  the  tem- 
perature of  which,  in  summer,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
is  less  than  60°,  these  winds  suffer  little  increase  of  heat, 
and  become  so  charged  with  moisture  from  the  extended 
watery  surface,  as  to  exert  on  the  feelings  of  the  people 
along  the  southern  shores  of  Erie  and  Michigan,  a  most 
refreshing  influence. 

,  "  From  the  hour  that  the  voyager  enters  Lake  Huron, 
at  the  head  of  St.  Glair  river,  or  Michigan,  at  Chicago, 
he  ceases,  however,  to  feel  the  need  of  such  breezes  from 
the  northwest ;  for  the  latitude  which  he  has  then  at- 
tained, in  connexion  with  the  great  extent  of  the  deep 
waters,  secures  to  him  an  invigorating  atmosphere,  even 
while  summer  rages  with  a  withering  energy  in  the  South. 
The  axis  of  each  of  these  lakes  is  nearly  in  the  meri- 
dian, and  every  turn  made  by  the  wheels  of  his  boat 


NORTHERN  LAKES.  345 

carries  him  further  into  the  temperate  and  genial  climate 
of  the  upper  lakes.  Entering  it  by  either  of  the  portals 
just  mentioned,  he  soon  passes  the  latitude  of  44°,  and 
has  then  escaped  from  the  region  of  miasms,  musketoes, 
congestive  fevers,  calomel,  intermittents,  ague  cakes,  liver 
diseases,  jaundice,  cholera  morbus,  dyspepsia,  blue  devils, 
and  duns  I — on  the  whole  of  which  he  looks  back  with 
gay  indifference,  if  not  a  feeling  of  good-natured  contempt. 

"  Everywhere  on  the  shores  of  the  lakes,  from  Onta- 
rio to  Superior,  if  the  general  atmosphere  be  calm  and 
clear,  there  is,  in  summer,  a  refreshing  lake  and  land 
breeze ;  the  former  commencing  in  the  forenoon,  and, 
with  a  capricious  temper,  continuing  most  of  the  day ; 
the  latter  setting  in  at  night,  after  the  radiation  from  the 
ground  has  reduced  its  heat  below  that  of  the  water. 
These  breezes  are  highly  acceptable  to  the  voyager  while 
in  the  lower  lake  region,  and  by  no  means  to  be  despised 
after  he  reaches  the  upper. 

"  But  the  summer  climate  of  the  lakes  is  not  the  only 
source  of  benefit  to  invalids ;  for  the  agitation  imparted 
by  the  boat,  on  voyages  of  several  days'  duration, 
through  waters  which  are  never  stagnant  and  sometimes 
rolling,  will  be  found  among  the  most  efficient  means 
of  restoring  health  in  many  chronic  diseases,  especially 
those  of  a  nervous  character,  such  as  hysteria  and 
hypochondriacism . 

"  Another  source  of  benefit  is  the  excitement  imparted 
by  the  voyage  to  the  faculty  of  observation.  At  a 
watering-place  all  the  features  of  the  surrounding  scenery 
are  soon  familiarized  to  the  eye,  which  then  merely  wan- 
ders over  the  commingled  throngs  of  valetudinarians, 
doctors,  dancers,  idlers,  gamblers,  coquets,  and  dandies, 
whence  it  soon  returns  to  inspect  the  infirmities  or 


346  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

tedium  vitce  of  its  possessor ;  but  on  protracted  voyages, 
through  new  and  fresh  regions,  curiosity  is  stirred  up  to 
the  highest  pitch,  and  pleasantly  gratified  by  the  hourly 
unfolding  of  fresh  aspects  of  nature  ;  some  new  blend- 
ing of  land  and  lake — a  group  of  islands  different  from 
the  last — aquatic  fields  of  wild  rice  and  lilies — a  rain- 
bow walking  on  the  'face  of  the  deep5 — a  water-spout, 
or  a  shifting  series  of  painted  clouds,  seen  in  the  ka- 
leidoscope of  heaven. 

"But  the  North  has  attractions  of  a  different  kind, 
which  should  draw  into  its  summer  bosom  those  who 
seek  health  and  recreation  in  travel.  From  Ontario  to 
Michigan,  the  voyager  passes  in  the  midst  of  spots  con- 
secrated to  the  heart  of  every  American ;  and  deeply 
interesting  to  all  who  delight  to  study  the  history  of 
their  native  land.  -The  shores  and  waters  of  the  lakes, 
so  often  reddened  with  the  blood  of  those  who  fought 
and  died  in  the  cause  of  their  country,  will  present  to  the 
traveler  of  warm  and  patriotic  feelings,  scenes  which 
he  cannot  behold  without  an  emotion,  under  which  real 
diseases  may  abate, and  the  imaginary  be  forgotten. 

"The  canoe  or  skiff  voyage  up  the  St.  Mary's,  from 
the  Sault  to  Lake  Superior  at  Gros  Cap,  on  the  Canada 
side,  is  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  shorter  excursions  in 
the  North.  The  traveler  may  go  and  return  the  same  day, 
but  he  is  too  much  hurried  for  accurate  observation,  and 
loses,  moreover,  the  pleasure  of  encamping  a  la  suavage. 
To  enter  a  tent,  or  to  bivouac  on  a  sand  bank,  beneath 
pine  trees,  among  grass  and  flowers,  uninfested  with 
gnats,  musketoes,  or  snakes,  and  lodge  for  a  night  on  a 
bed  of  fern,  is  a  luxury  of  itself;  but  when  we  add  the 
music  of  the  waters  at  his  feet,  tjie  solemn  stillness  of 
neighboring  woods,  the  mingled  merriment  of  the 


NORTHERN    LAKES.  34:7 

voyageurs  and  Chippewas,  their  clouds  of  tobacco 
smoke,  and  the  draughts  of  hot  tea,  made  from  the 
leaves  of  an  adjoining  bush,  the  hypocondriac  rises  in 
the  morning  from  a  delicious  midsummer-night's  dream, 
and  goes  on  his  way  rejoicing. 

"  In  making  this  excursion,  the  disciple  of  good  old 
Isack  Walton  may  watch  the  writhings  of  his  worm  in 
the  deep  and  pellucid  waters  of  the  lake,  the  geologist 
break  off  specimens  of  wacke  and  old  red  sandstone  from 
its  banks,  the  virtuoso  pick  up  shells  and  cornelians  on 
the  beach  below,  the  botanist  enrich  his  herbarium  with 
flowers,  the  painter  his  portfolio  with  original  sketches, 
and  the  lovers  of  nature  at  large  their  imaginations  with 
the  wild  and  beautiful.  On  returning,  they  may  de- 
scend the  Sault  or  Kapids,  when,  for  nearly  a  mile, 
their  little  barque,  as  if  by  instinct,  will  rapidly  pick  its 
way  through  dashing  currents  and  whirling  eddies, 
while  snatches  of  song  by  the  Canadian  boatmen,  and 
the  startling  yells  of  the  Chippewa  Indians,,  will  raise  a 
chorus  to  the  tumult  of  the  waters,  which  their  friends 
below  as  loudly  echo  back. 

"At  the  Sault  resides  Mrs.  Johnson,  the  intelligent 
Indian  mother-in-law  of  the  two  Schoolcrafts.  The  elder 
we  have  already  mentioned ;  the  younger,  for  seventeen 
years  associated  with  the  Chippewas,  lives  near  her. 
This  place  is  also  the  residence  of  John  Tanner,  cap- 
tured more  than  fifty  years  ago,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ohio,  in  Boone  county,  Kentucky,  and  introduced  to 
the  reading  public  by  Dr.  James'  narrative.  But  a 
different  inhabitant,  of  more  interest  than  either  to  the 
dyspeptic  and  the  gourmand,  is  the  celebrated  white  fish, 
which  deserves  to  be  called  by  its  classical  name — 
coregonus  albus — which,  liberally  translated,  signifies 


34:8  LIFE   OF  DE.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

food  of  the  nymphs.  Its  flesh,  which  in  the  cold  and  clear 
waters  of  the  lake,  organized  and  imbued  with  life,  is 
liable  but  to  this  objection — that  he  who  tastes  it  once  will 
thenceforth  be  unable  to  relish  that  of  any  other  fish. 

"The  island  of  Mackinac  is  the  last,  and,  of  the  whole, 
the  most  important  summer  residence  to  which  we  can 
direct  the  attention  of  the  infirm  and  the  fashionable. 
True,  it  has  no  mineral  springs ;  but  living  streams  of 
pure  water,  cooled  down  to  the  temperature  of  44°, 
gushing  from  its  lime-rock  precipices,  and  an  atmos- 
phere never  sultry  or  malarious,  supersede  all  necessity 
for  nauseating  solutions  of  i^on,  sulphur,  and  epsom-salts. 
An  ague,  contracted  below,  has  been  known  to  cease  even 
before  the  patient  had  set  his  foot  on  the  island,  as  a 
bad  cold  evaporates  under  the  warm  sun  in  a  voyage  to 
Cuba.  Its  rocky,  though  not  infertile,  surface  presents 
but  few  decomposable  matters,  and  its  summer  heats  are 
never  great  enough  to  convert  those  few  into  miasms. 

"Situated  in  the  western  extremity  of  Huron,  within 
view  of  the  straits  which  connect  that  lake  with  Michi- 
gan, and  almost  in  sight,  if  forest  did  not  interpose,  of 
the  portals  of  Lake  Superior,  this  celebrated  island  has 
long  been,  as  it  must  continue  to  be,  the  capital  of  the 
upper  lakes.  The  steamboats  which  visit  the  rapids  of 
the  St.  Mary  and  Green  bay,  not  less  than  the  daily 
line  from  Buffalo  to  Milwaukie  and  Chicago,  are  found 
in  its  harbor ;  and  the  time  cannot  be  remote  when  a 
small  packet  will  ply  regularly  between  it  and  the  first. 
By  these  boats  the  luxuries  of  the  South,  brought  fresh 
and  succulent  as  when  first  gathered,  are  supplied  every 
day.  But  the  potatoes  of  the  island,  rivaling  those  of 
the  banks  of  the  Shannon,  and  the  white  fish  and  trout 
of  the  surrounding  waters,  yielding  only  to  those  of 


ISLAND  OF  MACKINAO.  34:9 

Lake  Superior,  render  all  foreign  delicacies  superfluous. 
We  must  caution  the  gourmand,  however,  against  the 
excessive  use  of  trout,  (salmo  amethystes,)  which  are 
said  to  produce  drowsiness ;  for  he  who  visits  Mackinac 
should  sleep  but  little,  lest  some  scene  of  interest  should 

pass  away  unobserved. 

****** 

"In  conclusion,  we  must  devote  a  page  to  the  natural 
scenery  of  the  island.  Its  entire  circumference  does  not 
exceed  ten  miles.  Seen  as  we  approach  from  the  east, 
it  presents  a  mural  precipice,  of  grey  secondary  lime- 
stone, rising  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  out  of  the  green 
waters,  and  decorated  on  its  brow  with  maple's,-  oaks, 
and  evergreens.  Over  a  chasm,  in  the  verge  of  this 
cliff,  is  a  natural  bridge,  so  narrow  and  elevated  that  one 
of  the  exploits  of  the  daring  visitor  is  to  walk  upon  it. 
At  a  short  distance  in  its  rear  stands  a  conical  rock, 
whose  pinnacle  overtops  many  of  the  forest  trees,  in  the 
midst  of  which  it  has  stood  in  solitary  and  undecaying 
dignity,  while  they,  generation  after  generation,  have 
mingled  with  the  soil.  On  the  western  slopes  of  the 
island,  there  is  an  immense  number  of  primitive  bould- 
ers, from  the  granitic  mountains  beyond  Lake  Superior ; 
lastly,  on  its  very  summit,  the  naturalist  may  collect 
organic  remains,  and  the  curious  peel  white  birch  bark, 
on  which,  should  they  lack  paper,  they  may  write  their 
notes,  or  correspond  with  their  distant  friends. 

"In  a  recess  on  the  southeastern  side  of  the  island,  but 
a  few  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  lake,  stands  the 
grotesque  village  of  Mackinac,  where,  side  by  side,  are 
Canadian,  cypress-thatched  cabins,  and  modern  frames 
erected  by  our  own  people.  On  the  cliff  which  over- 
hangs it,  sits  Fort  Mackinac,  with  its  bristling  cannon 


350 


LIFE   OF  DK.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 


and  whitewashed  battlements.  Half  a  mile  in  the  rear  is 
the  plateau,  seventy-five  feet  higher,  the  site  of  old  Fort 
Holmes,  which  we  have  already  visited.  From  this  sum- 
mit, elevated  far  above  all  that  surrounds  it,  the  panorama 
is  such  as  would  justify  the  epithet  to  Mackinac — Queen 
of  the  Isles.  To  the  west  are  the  indented  shores  of 
the  upper  peninsula  of  Michigan ;  to  the  south,  those  of 
the  lower,  presenting  in  the  interior  a  distant  and  smoky 
line  of  elevated  table-land;  up  the  straits,  green  islets 
may  be  seen  peeping  above  the  waters ;  directly  in  front 
of  the  harbor,  Round  Island  forms  a  beautiful  fore- 
ground, while  the  larger  Bois  JBlanc,  with  its  lighthouse, 
stretches  off  to  the  east ;  to  the  north  are  other  islands, 
at  varying  distances,  which  complete  the  archipelago." 

In  April,  1851,  the  National  Intelligencer  published 
three  letters  from  Dr.  Drake,  on  the  condition  of  the  Af- 
ricans in  the  United  States,  in  other  words,  the  treatment, 
and  prosperity  of  the  slaves  in  the  South.  These  letters 
were  addressed  to  Dr.  John  C.  Warren,  President  of  the 
National  Medical  Convention. 

The  sagacious  conservative  and  prudent  editors  of  the 
Intelligencer  thus  announced  them  to  the  public : 

"  We  present  to  the  public  to-day  the  first  of  three 
letters,  addressed  by  one  of  the  most  eminent  citizens  of 
the  Western  country  to  Dr.  Warren,  of  Boston,  on  the 
Slavery  question.  The  high  character  of  their  author, 
(whose  name  and  virtues  are  household  words  through- 
out the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  honored  in  every 
part  of  the  Union,)  as  well  as  the  great  ability  and  origi- 
nality of  these  letters,  on  a  subject  at  present  of  universal 
interest,  will  commend  them  to  the  serious  consideration 
of  all  candid,  thoughtful,  and  patriotic  men. 

"As  a  teacher  of  medicine,  in  the  medical  schools  of 


DR.   DRAKE  S   LETTERS   ON  SLAVERY.  351 

Ohio  and  Kentucky,  Dr.  Drake  has  been  distinguished 
for  many  years  ;  and,  for  the  purpose  of  completing  his 
great  work  on  the  diseases  of  the  Western  States,  has 
visited  and  pursued  his  inquiries  in  nearly  all  of  them. 
He  has  thus  enjoyed  peculiar  advantages  for  observing 
the  character  and  condition  of  the  people,  and  his  testi- 
mony must  be  regarded  as  of  great  value.  The  friends 
of  the  colored  race  will  find,  in  the  clear  and  well-con- 
sidered statements  of  the  first  of  his  letters,  the  best 
reasons  for  encouragement  and  hope ;  whilst  the  rash  and 
misguided  will,  we  trust,  be  induced  to  consider  whether 
it  be  wise,  by  an  overheated  zeal  in  the  cause  of  the  en- 
slaved, to  disturb  not  only  the  good  order  of  society,  but 
defeat  the  humane  purposes  now  cherished  and  increasing 
toward  the  colored  population  of  the  South.  Certainly 
it  would  be  difficult  to  place  too  high  an  estimate  upon 
the  merits  of  a  gentleman  who,  amid  arduous  professional 
duties,  has  found  time,  from  no  motive  but  that  of  service 
to  his  country  and  his  race,  to  present  in  so  able  a  man- 
ner his  views  on  so  great  and  difficult  a  question  to  the 
American  people." 

I  cannot  here  give  these  letters  entire,  and  a  part 
would  not  exhibit  their  true  meaning  and  character.  The 
substance  and  principles  of  them  may  be  stated  in  a  few 
words.  The  first  letter  gave  a  view  of  the  treatment 
and  condition  of  the  slaves  in  the  South,  derived 
from  his  own  actual  observation.  Having  passed  his 
boyhood  in  Kentucky,  and  many  winters,  in  his  attend- 
ance at  medical  schools,  he  knew  the  former  condition 
of  slaves,  and  he  deduces  from  the  comparison  the  fact 
that,  the  condition  of  slaves  is  now  much  ameliorated. 
In  his  second  letter  he  lays  down  the  broad  proposition, 
that  the  free  and  slave  States  should  adopt  this  principle, 


352  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL   DKAKE. 

non-colonization  in  the  free  States,  and  non-emancipa- 
tion in  the  slave  States,  except  on  condition  of  being 
colonized  in  Africa.  This  bold  proposition  he  argued,  on 
the  assumed  fact,  that  the  negro  was,  in  this  country,  an 
inferior  being,  by  caste,  and  that  he  is  not  really  benefit- 
ed by  being  colonized  into  the  free  States,  while  he  be- 
came troublesome,  and  might,  in  the  end,  be  dangerous 
to  the  free  States. 

In  the  third  letter  the  same  subject  was  continued, 
and  an  argument  made  for  African  colonization. 

The  facts  stated  in  these  letters  have  never,  that  I  know 
of,  been  contradicted,  while  the  principles  and  plans  sug- 
gested, continue  to  be  the  subject  of  a  very  wide  difference 
of  opinion,  according  to  the  light  in  which  we  view  the  ca- 
pacities of  the  negro,  and  the  rights  of  a  human  being. 

I  have  thought  it  would  not  be  uninteresting  to  the 
general,  as  well  as  the  professional,  reader,  to  give  some 
extracts  from  the  more  general  descriptions  of  Dr. 
Drake's  "Systematic  Treatise  on  the  Diseases  of  the 
Interior  Valley/'  Accordingly,  I  have  selected  several 
pages  from  the  chapters  relating  to  "  Occupations,  Exer- 
cise, and  Amusements."  They  relate  chiefly  to  the  life 
of  men  on  our  water-courses,  and  engaged  in  inland  com- 
merce. That  on  Exercise  and  Amusements  relates  to 
the  habits  of  the  people  generally. 

LIFE     UPON    THE    GULF. 

New  Orleans  is  the  emporium  of  the  commercial 
marine  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Of  the  other  ports,  the 
chief  are  Chagres,  Yera  Cruz,  Havana,  Tampico,  Gal- 
veston,  Pensacola,  and  Mobile.  The  voyages  between 
these  ports,  or  between  any  one  of  them  and  New  Or- 
leans, are  never  of  such  duration  as  to  generate  any 


LIFE   UPON   THE    GULF.  353 

form  of  disease  peculiar  to  the  sea.  They  are  made 
in  steamboats  and  schooners,  or  brigs.  In  whatever 
craft,  the  sailors  and  operatives  lead  exposed  lives, 
while  they  move  in  an  atmosphere,  the  mean  annual 
temperature  of  which  varies,  in  different  latitudes, 
from  seventy  to  eighty  degrees  of  Fahrenheit ;  while 
it  is  nearly  saturated  with  vapor.  Their  exposure 
to  sudden  showers  is  frequent — to  that  of  a  sun  of 
intense  power,  habitual,  for  at  least  ten  months  out 
of  twelve ;  at  night  they  often  lie  in  the  open  air ; 
lastly,  in  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  they  are  sub- 
jected to  the  chilling  influence  of  the  Northers.  Most 
of  them  use  ardent  spirits  daily  ;  and,  while  in  port, 
where  they  spend  much  of  their  time,  many  of  them  dip 
into  dissipation.  In  addition  to  this  class  of  seamen, 
there  are  the  sailors  and  marines  of  the  United  States' 
Navy,  who  cruise  in  the  Gulf,  and  undergo  the  same 
exposures,  but  are  more  restricted  in  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits.  A  large  proportion  of  all  the  seamen  of  the 
Gulf,  are  natives  of  more  northern  latitudes.  In  esti- 
mating the  effects  of  the  life  they  lead,  upon  their  health 
and  constitution,  we  must  deduct  the  effects  of  intempe- 
rance, with  its  exposures,  while  they  are  in  port ;  and, 
also,  the  action  on  their  systems  of  the  deleterious  atmos- 
phere of  commercial  towns  in  hot  climates  ;  and,  having 
done  so,  we  may  say,  that  they  are  liable  to  diarrhoea, 
cholera  morbus,  dysentery,  hepatitis,  and  coup  de  soleil, 
in  summer ;  and  to  rheumatism  and  pneumonia  in  win- 
ter. While  at  sea,  as  on  a  schooner  voyage,  from  Vera 
Cruz  or  Havana  to  New  Orleans,  they  are  often  invaded 
by  yellow  fever ;  and  the  same  disease  sometimes  breaks 
out  in  our  national  vessels,  when  they  have  not  lately 
touched  at  any  port.  Such,  however,  is  but  seldom  the 

99 


354  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

case  with  autumnal  intermittents  and  remittents ;  the 
former  of  which  sometimes  cease  spontaneously  during 
a  protracted  voyage. 

LIFE    UPON     OUR     RIVERS. 

First.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century,  and  for 
the  first  fifteen  or  twenty  years  of  the  present,  the  com- 
merce of  the  Interior  Valley  was  carried  on  in  flat-boats, 
which  floated  with  the  current,  and  in  keel-boats,  and 
barges,  which  were,  by  oars,  setting  poles,  and  cordells, 
propelled  against  it.  Flat-boats  still  continue  in  use, 
but  the  others  are  no  longer  employed.  The  principal 
voyages  were  from  the  Ohio  river  to  New  Orleans  ;  and 
the  watermen  who  performed  them,  constituted  a  pecu- 
liar class :  1.  They  were,  for  a  long  period,  exposed  to  a 
river  atmosphere.  2.  Their  exposure  to  the  weather 
was  incessant.  3.  Their  diet  consisted  chiefly  of  bread 
and  meat.  4.  They  drank  whisky  to  excess.  5.  Those 
who  returned  by  the  river  were  compelled  to  labor  in  the 
most  toilsome  manner,  and  were  often  in  the  water. 
6.  Those  who  traveled  back  by  land,  performed  a  jour- 
ney of  a  thousand  miles,  on  horseback  or  on  foot, 
encamping  at  night  in  the  open  air. 

In  this  occupation  many  died  of  fevers,  contracted 
from  lying  through  the  night  at  the  river  banks,  or  at 
New  Orleans ;  and  rheumatism  or  pulmonary  diseases 
were  the  lot  of  others  ;  but  the  majority  were  strong  and 
hardy — none  being  more  so  than  those  who  performed 
the  long  overland  journey  from  New  Orleans,  to  the 
middle  portion  of  the  Ohio  river,  on  foot.  Since  the 
general  introduction  of  steamboats,  the  flat-boat  hands 
no  longer  return  by  land ;  but  on  the  lower  decks  of 
those  boats,  where  many  of  them  yield  to  dissipation, 


LIFE  UPON   OUR   RIVERS.  355 

and  the  mortality  is,  I  presume,  quite  as  great  as  among 
those  of  former  times. 

Second.  The  number  of  men  and  boys  employed  in 
navigating  our  numerous  steamboats,  amounts  to  many 
thousands.  The  most  exposed  and  reckless  are  the  fire- 
men and  deck-hands.  The  diet  of  the  operatives  is 
chiefly  bread  and  meat,  with  coffee  in  the  morning. 
Their  labors  are  heavy,  and  require  to  be  performed  by 
night,  not  less  than  day.  They  are  much  exposed  to  all 
inclemencies  of  weather,  and  are  often  in  the  water. 
The  firemen  pass  much  of  their  time  in  a  heat  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  degrees,  and  some  of  it  in  a  heat  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  degrees,  Fahrenheit,  as  I  have 
ascertained  by  the  thermometer,  when  their  pulses  rise, 
in  frequency,  to  one  hundred  and  thirty  or  one  hundred 
and  forty  in  a  minute.  Both  classes  are  in  the  habit  of 
throwing  themselves  on  the  bow  of  the  boat,  where  they 
are  exposed  to  a  wind  equal  to  the  velocity  of  the  boat. 
To  counteract  the  effects  of  these  various  exposures  and 
irregularities,  many  of  them  drink  freely  of  ardent 
spirits  ;  and  the  firemen,  especially,  regard  such  drinks  as 
necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  that  perspiration,  which 
cools  their  bodies  after  approaching  the  furnaces,  which 
they  feed  with  fuel.  The  experience  of  the  most  observ- 
ing commanders  is,  however,  that  these  and  every  other 
class  of  steamboat  operatives,  enjoy  better  health,  and 
have  greater  strength  when  they  refrain  from  drinking. 
As  to  the  diseases  to  which  they  are  most  liable,  if  I  may 
judge  from  what  I  have  seen  in  the  Louisville  Marine 
Hospital,  and  the  Commercial  Hospital  of  Ohio,  at  Cin- 
cinnati, they  are  chiefly  diarrhoea,  and  intermittent  fever, 
with  its  sequela,  disordered  spleen,  and  dropsy.  Eheu- 
matisrn  and  pulmonary  inflammation  are,  however,  not 


356  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

uncommon.  Finally,  a  large  number  are  suddenly  de- 
stroyed by  mechanical  accidents,  drowning  or  scalding ; 
and  a  still  larger  number  are  driven  from  employment, 
to  die  a  lingering  death  from  the  diseases  produced  by 
intemperance  and  river  exposure. 

The  steamboat  river-pilots  have  a  peculiar  duty  to 
perform,  which  might  be  expected  to  affect  their  eyes 
unfavorably.  For  twelve  hours  out  of  every  twenty-four, 
they  are  kept  in  a  state  of  active  vision ;  at  night  straining 
their  eyes  to  see  objects  by  a  dim  light,  or  through  fog — in 
the  day,  having  them  directed  upon  a  watery  surface, 
which  often  reflects  an  intense  light.  Ophthalmia  and 
amaurosis  might  be  supposed  to  result  from  such  a  life  ; 
but  I  am  not  aware  that  they  have  often  been  produced. 

LIFE     ON    THE    NORTHERN    LAKES. 

Our  fresh-water  sailors  pass  their  active  lives  in  a 
mean  temperature  of  about  forty-five  degrees,  instead  of 
seventy-five  degrees  like  those  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
Their  voyages  are  made  in  schooners,  steamboats,  and 
propellers.  The  number  of  operatives  is  large — quite 
equal,  perhaps,  to  the  number  employed  upon  the  Gulf, 
if  we  except  those  coming  in  European  vessels.  The 
lake  voyages  are  generally  short,  and,  therefore,  much  of 
the  time  of  the  watermen  is  passed  in  port.  They  expose 
themselves  less  than  the  sailors  of  the  Gulf,  arid  are 
more  temperate  in  alcoholic  indulgences.  Most  of  these 
moreover,  are  natives  of  the  climate  in  which  they  labor. 
Thus  the  causes  of  disease  to  which  they  are  exposed  are 
fewer,  and  they  enjoy  better  health  than  their  brethren 
of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  bowel  complaints  and  fevers 
of  the  Gulf,  especially,  are  much  rarer  here ;  but  inter- 
mittents  sometimes  attack  those  who  frequent  the  southern 


LIFE   UPON   OUR  CANALS.  357 

shores  of  Lake  Erie ;  and  all  are  liable  to  pulmonary 
inflammation  and  rheumatism. 

.-•• 

LIFE     UPON    OUK     CANALS. 

It  is  a  popular  opinion  that  the  excavation  of  canals, 
in  summer  and  autumn,  is  an  unhealthy  employment ; 
and  the  history  of  that  which  leaves  the  west  end  of  Lake 
Erie,  at  Maumee  bay,  for  the  Ohio  river ;  that  of  the 
Erie  and  Beaver  canal,  in  western  Pennsylvania,  and 
that  of  the  new  canal,  connecting  Lake  Ponchartrain 
with  New  Orleans,  seem  to  give  support  to  this  opinion. 
Indeed,  as  canals  are  generally  excavated  through  soils — 
alluvial  or  diluvial — which  abound  in  undecomposed 
organic  matters,  the  first  exposure  of  them  to  the  sun 
and  rains  would  seem  likely  to  favor  the  production  of  a 
deleterious  atmosphere.  Nevertheless,  we  must  be  on 
our  guard  against  error  in  this  conclusion ;  for,  First, 
Canals  are  generally  dug  through  low  and  flat  lands, 
which  are  known  to  be  productive  of  autumnal  fever ; 
thus  there  was  a  marsh  along  the  side  of  the  Maumee 
canal;  and  that  of  New  Orleans  was  dug  through  a 
cypress  swamp.  Second.  The  operatives  are  unacclimated 
Irishmen  and  Germans,  chiefly  the  former,  who  lodge  in 
temporary  shanties,  often  directly  on  the  ground,  and  in- 
dulge largely  in  whisky-drinking.  Thus,  if  they  had  spent 
the  same  seasons  of  the  year,  under  the  same  circumstances 
without  stirring  up  the  surface  of  the  earth,  they  might 
have  suffered  in  an  equal  degree.  But  I  need  not  dwell 
on  this  point,  as  it  must  come  up  under  future  heads. 

The  effects  of  canals  on  the  health  of  the  inhabitants 
living  near  them,  have,  in  several  instances,  been  per- 
nicious. A  great  increase  of  autumnal  fever  followed 
on  the  completion  of  the  Erie  and  Beaver  canal  just 


358  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DKAKE. 

mentioned ;  especially  about  the  summit  level,  between 
Lake  Erie  and  the  Ohio  river,  where  a  basin  to  afford 
water  was  constructed,  by  throwing  dams  across  the  out- 
lets of  Conneaut  lake.  Some  of  the  surrounding  neigh- 
borhoods, previously  exempt  from  any  fatal  prevalence 
of  autumnal  fever,  were,  as  we  have  already  seen,  in 
treating  of  the  topography  of  that  region,  almost  depop- 
ulated. It  is  a  common  practice  to  draw  off  the  water 
from  our  canals,  in  the  month  of  June,  after  the  spring 
navigation  is  over :  and  the  exposure  of  their  mud  bot- 
toms would  seem  likely  to  generate  fevers ;  yet  I  have 
not  been  able  to  learn  that  such  has  been  the  effect,  at 
least,  to  any  great  extent.  A  large  number  of  boats  run 
on  our  canals,  and  as  they  continue  on  motion  all  night, 
in  summer  and  autumn,  as  wyell  as  in  other  seasons, 
through  regions  which  frequently  abound  in  marshes, 
it  might  be  expected  that  the  operatives  would  be  often 
down  with  fevers ;  still,  the  result  of  my  inquiries  is, 
that  they  are  less  liable  to  those  diseases  than  the  people 
who  live  on  the  banks  of  these  thoroughfares. 

LIFE     OF     THE     VOYAaEURS. 

The  voyageurs  who  ascend  our  long  rivers  to  the 
Eocky  mountains,  and  pass  over  the  valley,  from 
Lake  Superior  to  Hudson  bay,  and  the  lakes  and  rivers 
to  its  west,  merit  a  more  extended  notice  than  either  of 
the  classes  enumerated.* 

*  In  speaking  of  them,  I  do  not  refer  to  printed  authorities — hav- 
ing had  ample  opportunities  of  conversing  with  gentlemen  who  have 
been  familiar  with  their  habits,  of  whom  I  may  mention  Mr.  Samuel 
Abbott  and  Mr.  William  Johnson,  of  Mackinac,  Mr.  Robert  Stewart, 
of  Detroit,  and  Colonel  Mitchell,  of  St.  Louis.  I  have,  also,  had 
some  personal  opportunities  of  seeing  them. 


LIFE   OF  THE  VOYAGEUKS.  359 

This  class  or  caste  of  watermen,  consisting  chiefly  of 
French,  and  their  descendants,  began  to  form  soon  after 
that  people  come  upon  the  continent.  From  the  earliest 
period  of  settlement  in  Canada  and  Louisiana,  the  atten- 
tion of  the  emigrants  was  turned  to  the  interior  of  the 
valley,  which  they  undertook  to  traverse  by  its  vast  lakes 
and  rivers,  in  canoes  and  skiffs,  at  length  called  Macki- 
nac  boats ;  which,  of  course,  were  worked  by  hand,  with 
oars  or  paddles,  and  often  propelled  against  strong  and 
unrelaxing  currents.  After  the  conquest  of  Canada,  in 
1763,  emigrants  from  Great  Britain  began  to  mingle 
with  the  Canadian  voyageurs ;  and,  on  the  cession  of 
Louisiana,  forty  years  afterward,  a  new  addition  was  made 
from  the  United  States  ;  but  the  greatest  reinforcements 
have  been  their  own  offspring,  by  Indian  women  ;  which 
half-breeds  or  mestizoes,  make,  according  to  some  com- 
putations, nearly  one-third  of  the  whole.  Many  of  these 
people  spent  the  whole  period  of  their  active  lives  in  the  ser- 
vice ;  to  which  they  became  strongly  attached.  The  roman- 
tic scenery  of  the  lakes  and  rivers,  and  the  picturesque 
appearance  of  savages,  and  wild  animals,  roaming  through 
deep  solitudes,  invested  this  new  branch  of  commerce 
with  a  charm,  which  fascinated  the  Canadian  imagina- 
tion, and  drew  thousands  into  this  peculiar  service.  For 
a  long  time,  their  voyages  were  performed  in  canoes  and 
pirogues,  of  birch  bark.  Gradually  the  adventurers  be- 
came familiar  with  the  western  shores  of  Lake  Superior, 
ascended  the  river  St.  Louis  ;  and,  traversing  a  portage, 
reached  the  highest  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  or  spread 
themselves  over  the  distant  northwest.  Others  took 
their  departure  from  Green  bay,  and  descending  the  Wis- 
consin, floated  out  upon  the  Mississippi  in  a  lower  lati- 
tude ;  while  others  still,  departing  from  the  southern  end 


S60  LIFE  OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

of  Lake  Michigan,  passed  down  the  Illinois,  and  ascend- 
ed the  Missouri.  Their  evenings  were  spent  in  smoking, 
garrulous  talk,  and  singing.  They  lodged  under  tents, 
or  beneath  their  inverted  canoes.  Many  of  them  spent 
the  winter  in  those  desolate  regions,  unwilling  to  return 
without  full  cargoes  of  those  furs,  which  were  the  objects 
they  sought.  At  all  times,  while  sitting  in  their  canoes, 
they  were  exposed  to  every  inclemency  of  weather, 
and  were  often  under  the  necessity  of  wading  in  shallow 
water.  They  mingled  much  with  the  native  tribes,  and 
adopted  many  of  their  customs ;  intermarried  with  them 
and  reared  up  a  race  of  half-breeds  to  become,  as  already 
stated,  their  associates  and  successors. 

In  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  they  were,  of  necessity, 
temperate,  except  when  in  port.  Tobacco  they  never 
dispensed  with.  Their  diet  consisted  essentially  of  maize 
or  Indian  corn  ;  the  variety  called  white  flint  being  pre- 
ferred. It  was  boiled  in  a  ley  of  wood  ashes  until  the 
outer  integument  could  be  rubbed  off,  and  then  put  in 
sacks.  A  quart  of  this  corn,  with  two  ounces  of  tallow, 
or  hard  fat,  boiled  through  the  night,  constituted  the  ra- 
tion of  a  voyageur  for  the  ensuing  day. 

Free  from  care,  and  alive  to  the  exciting  novelties 
through  which  they  passed,  no  despondency  came  over 
them,  and  the  gaiete  du  cceur,  and  vivacity  of  the  French 
never  shone  with  finer  radiance  than  on  the  shores  of 
Lake  Huron,  or  the  rivers  which  meander  through  the 
boundless  prairies  between  Lake  Superior,  Hudson  bay, 
and  the  Kocky  mountains. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  voyageurs  in  the  past  tense ; 
but  the  race  is  not  extinct,  though  it  has  lost  much  of 
its  original,  racy  character.  In  latter  times,  steamboats 
and  schooners,  by  ascending  our  great  rivers,  or  travers- 


LIFE   OF   THE   VOYAGEURS.  361 

ing  Lake  Superior,  tend  to  keep  the  voyageur  in  the 
distant  wilderness,  and  also  to  limit  their  number  ;  so 
that  they  are  no  longer  constant  visitors  in  St.  Louis, 
Mackinac,  Detroit,  Kingston,  and  Montreal,  as  in  past 
times. 

The  voyageurs  are  generally  below  the  ordinary  Anglo- 
American  standard  in  height ;  but  are  muscular  and  very 
strong,  from  being  compelled  to  carry  heavy  burdens, 
including  their  canoes,  around  the  shoals  and  rapids  of 
the  rivers  on  which  they  run.  The  pack  of  furs,  weigh- 
ing eighty  pounds,  rests  upon  the  upper  part  of  the  back, 
and  a  broad  strap,  passing  across  the  forehead,  keeps  it 
in  its  place.  At  the  portages,  as  that  around  the  falls  river 
St.  Louis,  west  of  Lake  Superior,  the  common  burden 
for  a  man  is  two  packs,  equal  to  one  hundred  arid  sixty 
pounds,  to  be  carried  a  mile  ;  but  Mr.  Wm.  Johnson,  of 
Mackinac,  assured  me.  that  he  saw  a  half-breed,  Skauret, 
(for  his  name  deserves  to  be  recorded,)'  carry  four — or 
three  hundred  and  twenty  pounds,  through  that  distance 
without  laying  them  down.  The  voyageurs  are  not  only 
strong,  but  healthy.  Those  on  the  Missouri  river  some- 
times experience  ague  and  fever,  from  which  those 
further  north  are  exempt.  They  occasionally  have  rheu- 
matism. Mr.  Samuel  Abbott,  in  a  residence  of  nearly 
twenty  years  at  Mackinac,  had  seen  but  two  cases  of 
consumption  among  the  many  who  had  made  that  island 
their  headquarters  ;  and  whether  they  were  examples  of 
true  phthisis,  or  only  chronic  bronchitis,  I  could  not 
learn.  Mr.  Johnson,  who  had  spent  a  year  among  them 
observed  that  under  all  the  exposures  of  their  voyage, 
from  Lake  Superior  to  Leech  lake,  they  were  healthy ; 
but  when  they  came  to  winter  in  huts,  and  eat  fresh 

meat,  they  were  subject  to  catarrhal  affections.   . 

31 


362  LIFE   OF  DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

Since  the  cession  of  Louisiana,  in  1803,  many  Ameri- 
can young  men  have  become  hunters  and  trappers,  in 
the  region  between  St.  Louis  and  the  sources  of  the  Mis- 
souri and  Yellow  Stone,  and  have  been  mingled  with  the 
voyageurs,  or,  of  themselves,  penetrate  to  the  skirts  of  the 
Rocky  mountains,  where  they  sojourn  a  great  part  of 
their  time.  The  flesh  of  the  buffalo  makes  a  considera- 
ble part  of  their  food. 

SANTA     FE     TRADERS. 

We  come,  in  the  last  place,  to  a  class  of  traders  who 
transport  their  goods  entirely  by  land.  They  leave  the 
Missouri  river,  not  far  from  the  mouth  of  the  Kansas, 
and  cross  the  prairies  to  Santa  Fe  and  Paso  del  Norte, 
thence  to  Chihuahua,  and  in  the  northern  part  of  Mexico, 
a  distance  to  the  first  of  seven  hundred  and  seventy 
miles.  The  transportation  is  in  wagons  drawn  by  oxen, 
and  on  mules.  The  time  occupied  in  going  out,  is  gen- 
erally from  two  to  three  months — in  returning  less.  The 
best  seasons  for  these  trips  are  May  and  June,  and  Au- 
gust and  September.  Some  of  the  caravans  have  with 
them  two  hundred  men.  Their  diet  is  generally  composed 
of  cakes  of  flour,  bacon,  and  the  flesh  of  the  bison,  and 
coffee ;  to  which  beans  and  crackers  are  sometimes  ad- 
ded. They  often  suffer  for  want  of  water.  At  night 
they  lodge  in  or  beneath  their  wagons,  or  in  tents ;  but 
after  passing  the  one  hundred  and  first  or  second  degree 
of  west  latitude,  there  is  so  little  dew  that  no  shelter  is 
necessary  at  night,  except  from  rain,  which,  however, 
does  not  fall  very  often.  The  Santa  Fe  traders  general- 
ly enjoy  excellent  health.  Although  their  trips  are  often 
made  at  seasons  of  the  year,  when  various  parts  of  the 
valley  are  scourged  with  autumnal  fever,  they  are  scarcely 


EXERCISE   AND    AMFJSEMENTS.  363 

ever  attacked;  an  exemption,  however,  which  con- 
nects itself  less  with  their  occupation,  than  the  peculiar 
region  of  country  through  which  it  is  carried  on. 

EXERCISE    AND     AMUSEMENTS. 

If  hard  labor  and  exposure  generate  a  few  diseases, 
want  of  exercise  and  recreation,  is  the  remote  cause  of  a 
far  greater  number.  There  is  no  country  where  the  ne- 
cessity for  a  confined  and  sedentary  life  exists  in  a  less 
degree  than  in  our  interior  valley ;  and  at  the  same  time 
none,  perhaps,  in  which,  if  we  except  the  British  popu- 
lation of  Canada,  the  value  of  systematic  exercise  is  so 
little  appreciated.  In  every  epoch  of  life,  our  anatomy 
and  physiology  demand  exercise  and  recreation.  In  child- 
hood and  youth  they  are  necessary  to  the  growth  of  the 
muscular  and  osseous  systems,  the  firmness  of  the  nerv- 
ous tissue,  the  efficiency  of  the  organs  of  sense,  and  the 
sound  and  healthy  developement  of  the  lungs  and  chest. 
Notwithstanding  these  obvious  truths  our  children,  both 
at  home  and  in  the  school  or  college,  are  allowed  to 
grow  up  in  bodily  listlessness,  and  consequently,  they 
suffer  under  numerous  infirmities  of  health  and  frame, 
from  which,  by  proper  physical  discipline,  they  would  be 
protected.  The  time  they  do  not  spend  in  study  is  spent  in 
loitering ;  as  though  suspended  mental  application  were 
equivalent  to  active  bodily  exertion,  in  the  midst  of  scenes 
and  objects  fitted  to  act  on  the  external  senses ;  as  though 
leaving  the  school-room  for  the  paternal  roof,  would  ren- 
der free  and  long-continued  exposure  to  air  and  light  un- 
necessary. Docile  or  ambitious  children,  of  both  sexes, 
often  study  too  intensely ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  take 
too  little  exercise.  This  is  a  worse  condition  than  that 
of  mental  and  bodily  idleness,  or  of  close  confinement 


364:  LIFE  OF  DK.   DANIEL  DKAKE. 

without  study.  From  this  compound  of  positive  and 
negative  causes,  "come  irritations  of  the  brain  and  spinal 
cord,  headache,  epilepsy,  chorea,  hydrocephalus,  curva- 
tures of  the  spine,  scrofula,  dyspepsia,  consumption,  and 
death.  Parents  and  teachers  ought  to  know,  that  a 
child  cannot,  without  injury  to  health,  study  a  great  deal, 
unless  it  be  required  to  take  much  active  exercise  in  the 
fresh  air,  and  that  too  in  all  sorts  of  weather. 

Throughout  the  efficient  period  of  adult  life,  those  who 
pursue  sedentary  employments,  as  students,  shop-keepers, 
and  artisans,  of  both  sexes,  take  little  out-door  exercise. 
Their  close  confinement  renders  the  stomach  and  bowels 
torpid,  and  brings  on  dyspepsia ;  softens  their  muscular 
systems,  except  such  portions  as  may  happen  to  be  exer- 
cised by  their  business ;  diminishes  perspiration  and  ex- 
halation from  the  lungs,  and  thus  renders  the  blood 
impure ;  finally,  imparts  an  unhealthy  sensibility  to  their 
nervous  systems,  giving  rise  to  chorea,  hysteria  and  by- 
pochondiasis.  All  this,  in  a  less  degree,  may  be  the  fate 
of  those  who,  from  the  possession  of  wealth,  follow  no 
occupation,  and  yet  take  no  systematic  exercise.  Out  of 
such  a  state  of  the  constitution  grow  up  various  diseases ; 
some  of  which  prove  fatal,  while  others  make  the  indi- 
vidual habitually  infirm,  limit  his  usefulness,  and  render 
the  duties  of  his  calling  burdensome. 

In  the  slaveholding  States,  and  in  our  cities  generally, 
women,  who  are  not  compelled  to  labor,  experience  many 
infirmities,  which  are  the  consequence  of  bodily  indolence 
and  inactivity ;  some  of  which,  in  the  end,  prove  fatal. 

To  the  aged,  exercise  is  of  great  value ;  but  it  should 
be  rather  passive  than  active.  They,  however,  who  have 
been  inured  to  active  exertion  through  life,  should  not 
discontinue,  but  only  diminish  it  in  old  age ;  and  when 


EXERCISE  AND   AMUSEMENTS.  365 

they  find  it  irksome  or  impracticable,  should  take  that 
which  is  passive.  Its  advantages  are  various :  First.  It 
tends,  in  some  degree,  to  keep  off  the  constipation,  which 
generally  increases  with  age.  Second.  It  contributes  to 
retard  the  corpulence  which  so  often  renders  old  age  bur- 
densome. Third.  It  promotes  a  more  frequent  and 
complete  evacuation  of  the  renal  secretion,  and  thus  pre- 
vents the  formation  of  calculi.  Fourth.  It  diminishes 
venous  plethora,  and  lessens  the  danger  of  apoplexy. 
Fifth.  It  aerates  the  blood,  so  liable  to  become  highly 
carbonated  and  black  in  the  aged,  and  thus  invigorates 
the  nervous  system.  Sixth.  It  excites  the  senses  and 
keeps  the  individual  in  association  and  sympathy  with 
surrounding  nature,  and  thus  maintains  cheerfulness  and 
serenity  of  mind,  which  react  beneficially  on  his  body. 

Walking,  running,  athletic  games,  climbing,  riding, 
and  swimming,  all  in  the  open  air,  are  proper  in  child- 
hood and  youth ;  and,  instead  of  being  discouraged, 
should  be  promoted  and  regulated.  It  is  much  easier, 
however,  for  parents  to  do  the  former  than  the  latter ; 
and  they  too  often  take  the  course  which  gives  them  the 
least  trouble,  apparently  unconscious  of  the  injury  that 
may  follow. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  art  of  swimming  is  so 
little  taught  and  practiced,  as  a  part  of  the  education  of  our 
children  of  both  sexes.  Our  numerous  lakes  in  the  north, 
our  bays,  lagoons,  estuaries,  and  crescent  lakes  in  the  south, 
and  the  rivers  which  intersect  the  interior  in  all  directions 
afford  facilities  of  which  almost  our  entire  youthful  popu- 
lation might  avail  themselves  ;  and  they  would  do  so, 
if  aided  by  those  on  whom  they  depend.  Swimming 
exercises  the  muscles,  the  senses,  the  imagination,  and 
the  feelings,  in  a  way  peculiar  to  itself.  It  is  valuable. 


366  LIFE   OF   DB.   DANIEL   DKAKE. 

moreover,  to  the  skin,  as  keeping  it  clean,  and  hardening 
it  against  the  effects  of  rain  and  accidental  wetting.  But 
parents  do  not  encourage  their  sons  to  go  into  the 
water,  because  some  get  drowned.  The  answer  to  this 
is,  that  more  are  drowned,  in  the  course  of  life,  from  ig- 
norance of  the  art,  than  perish  in  acquiring  it.  And 
they  do  not  teach  their  daughters  to  swim,  because  the 
requisite  arrangements  cannot  be  made  without  some 
trouble  and  expense  ;  which  is  the  true  reason  why  so 
little  attention  is  paid  to  exercise  and  physical  education 
of  every  kind.  But  the  physiologist  and  physician  will 
insist,  that  the  formation  of  a  good  constitution  in  his 
child,  is  the  first  duty  of  every  parent ;  and,  therefore,  that 
less  should  be  expended  on  other  things,  and  more  on 
physical  discipline,  without  which  solidity  and  vigor  of 
frame,  with  sound  health,  cannot  be  attained. 

It  is  not  uncommon  to  meet  with  parents  who  regard 
dancing  as  affording  sufficient  exercise,  especially  for 
their  daughters.  But  this  is  a  great  mistake.  Dancing 
is  undoubtedly  a  natural  amusement,  but  the  instinct 
was  not  implanted  in  us  for  the  purpose  of  prompting  to 
that  exercise,  which  should  be  the  result  of  other  motives ; 
moreover,  as  a  hygienic  method,  it  is  obnoxious  to  seve- 
ral strictures.  First.  It  partakes  too  largely  of  the  char- 
acter of  an  amusement  to  admit  of  sufficient  muscular 
exertion,  without  generating  a  love  of  pleasure ;  which 
once  established,  will  render  all  exercise,  not  productive 
of  immediate  enjoyment,  tasteless  and  irksome.  Thus, 
this  kind  of  exercise  may  be  said  to  be  self-limited.  Sec- 
ond. Children  and  young  persons,  when  prepared  for 
dancing  school  or  dancing  parties,  are  generally  dressed 
in  a  way  that  is  unfavorable  to  the  free  action  of  their 
limbs ;  and,  what  is  of  far  greater  moment,  of  the  mus- 


EXERCISE   AND   AMUSEMENTS.  367 

cles  of  respiration.  Third.  They  are  crowded  into  an 
apartment  where  the  air  is  heated  and  impure  ;  and 
often  too,  at  night,  during  the  very  hours  when  they  ought, 
according  to  their  physiology,  to  be  asleep.  Fourth. 
Some,  who  have  frail  and  delicate  nervous  systems,  are 
injured  by  the  music  so  long  acting  upon  them.  Fifth. 
They  are  all  liable  to  be  injured  by  the  eating  and  drink- 
ing which  too  often  prevail.  Dancing,  in  fact,  is  mucli 
more  a  means  of  disciplining  the  muscles,  than  of  giving 
them  vigor.  As  a  mode  of  exercise  in  childhood  and 
youth,  it  is  insufficient ;  and  as  a  method  of  amusement 
in  after  years,  it  is  neglected  by  those  who,  physiologi- 
cally speaking,  most  require  it. 

Walking,  riding  on  horseback,  and  manual  labor,  are 
well  suited  to  early  and  middle  life.  A  daily  walk  of 
several  miles,  by  young  persons,  of  both  sexes,  who  are 
not  engaged  in  business,  would  be  of  inestimable  value 
to  their  constitutions ;  yet  who  among  us  has  seen  it 
practiced  ?  A  walk  of  a  single  mile  is  regarded  as  an 
enterprise  to  be  remembered  with  self-complacency ;  and 
if,  under  necessity,  extended  to  twice  that  distance,  a 
hardship  to  be  recounted  for  the  purpose  of  exciting 
sympathy. 

Saddle  exercise,  especially  since  new  modes  of  con- 
veying the  multitude  have  been  introduced,  is  so  much 
neglected,  that  many  of  our  young  men  do  not  under- 
stand the  management  of  a  horse ;  while  a  still  smaller 
number  of  young  women  are  taught  to  ride,  even  when 
time  and  means  are  enjoyed  without  limitation.  Yet 
nothing  would  contribute  more  to  the  vigorous  and 
graceful  development  of  their  frames,  than  equestrian 
exercise. 

Our  students  and  literary  men  might  greatly  promote 


S68  LIFE   OF   DK.    DANIEL   DBASE. 

their  health,  and  strength,  and  freshness  of  mind,  by 
devoting  their  leisure  hours  to  some  mechanical  labor, 
when  placed  under  circumstances  which  render  other 
modes  of  exercise  inconvenient.  Many  of  them  are  put 
to  study,  or  assume  it,  because  of  their  infirmities  of 
body.  To  adopt  such  a  course  indicates  still  greater 
infirmity  of  mind.  To  adopt  it,  and  then  neglect  cor- 
poreal exercise,  is  fatal ;  and  yet  such  is  the  prevailing 
folly  of  our  people,  that  these  cases  are  of  daily  occur- 
rence. Many  attempts  to  establish  manual  labor  acade- 
mies and  colleges,  in  different  parts  of  the  Yalley,  have 
been  made;  but  all  have  failed,  or  dragged  heavily 
along.  The  cause  is  to  be  found  in  the  deeply-rooted 
aversion  of  our  people  to  active  effort,  when  pecuniary 
gain  is  not  to  be  its  immediate  reward.  A  young  friend 
of  mine,  in  one  of  his  college  vacations,  devoted  himself 
to  carpentry ;  and,  without  instruction,  erected  a  frame 
tenement — he  is  now  an  able  professor  in  one  of  our 
colleges. 

Traveling  is  especially  adapted  to  the  aged ;  and  DO 
portion  of  the  earth  offers  such  facilities  for  it,  as  our 
widely-extended  Interior  Yalley.  A  voyage  from  Pitts- 
burgh to  the  Balize  in  cool  weather,  or  from  Louisiana 
to  the  Lakes  and  St.  Lawrence  in  hot  weather,  or  from 
the  banks  of  the  Ohio  river  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yellow 
Stone,  or  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  in  May  or  June, 
would,  for  the  aged  of  either  sex,  be  a  good  substitute 
for  the  imaginary  fountain  of  health  and  rejuvenescence, 
in  search  of  which  Ponce  de  Leon  sought  the  shores  of 
Florida.  I  have  already  indicated  several  of  these 
routes,  and  many  others  might  have  been  pointed  out. 

Amusement  may  be  advantageously  associated  with 
exercise,  as  a  means  of  promoting  it,  and,  indeed,  giving 


EXERCISE  AND  AMUSEMENTS.  369 

it  greater  efficiency ;  for  that  which  is  not  prompted 
by  any  immediate  motive,  nor  accompanied  with  pleas- 
urable emotion,  is  less  beneficial  to  the  body  than 
that  which  is.  Amusements  are  generally  sought  out 
by  the  idle  as  a  substitute  for  occupation,  or  by  the 
dissipated  as  administering  to  their  sensual  existence. 
To  both  classes  they  are  unnecessary,  and  serve  no  other 
purpose  than  to  confirm  them  in  cpurses  of  life  incom- 
patible with  firm  health,  vigor  of  mind,  and  sound  moral 
feeling.  Properly  estimated,  amusements  are  adapted 
to  the  physiological  condition  of  the  laborious,  especially 
those  whose  vocations  impose  much  mental  toil  and  anx- 
iety of  feeling.  Under  such  labors,  many  a  constitution 
of  both  body  and  mind,  especially  in  our  larger  cities,  as 
.New  Orleans,  St.  Louis,  and  Cincinnati,  is  prematurely 
worn  out ;  simply  because  the  irritation  of  the  nervous 
system  is  seldom  appeased  by  the  genial  influence  of 
innocent  and  cheering  amusements.  Irascibility,  cor- 
roding anxiety,  and  a  shade  of  gloom  and  misanthropy, 
are  the  legitimate  fruits  of  over-action  of  body  and 
mind ;  and  those  feelings,  reacting  injuriously  on  both, 
contribute,  with  other  causes,  to  generate  various  nerv- 
ous disorders,  up  to  insanity  itself.  The  rivalries, 
cares,  and  misfortunes  of  civilized  life,  require  to  be  met 
with  recreations  and  amusements,  to  a  certain  extent, 
their  true  physiological  antidotes.  It  is  well  known, 
however,  that  in  the  Valley  this  is  not  the  case.  Hence, 
there  is  no  country  in  which  the  drudgery  and  perplexi- 
ties of  business  are  more  pernicious  to  the  constitution. 
The  repugnance  of  the  more  rational  and  moral  part  of 
the  community,  to  any  and  all  of  our  fashionable  amuse- 
ments, is  founded  on  their  abuses.  Most  of  them  run 
into  some  form  of  dissipation,  and  become  repulsive  to 


370  LIFE   OF   DK.    DANIEL   DKAKE. 

persons  of  pure  moral  taste ;  while  they  often  prove  inju- 
rious to  the  health  and  morals  of  those  who  become 
devoted  to  them.  This  association  of  sensuality  and 
dissipation,  with  several  amusements,  keeps  the  whole 
in  discredit ;  and  repels  large  classes  of  the  community 
from  participation  in  any.  Public  balls  have  been  aban- 
doned by  thousands,  who  do  not  regard  dancing  as 
wrong,  because  of  the  dissipations  connected  with  them ; 
our  theaters  are  shunned  by  the  moral  portion  of  the 
people,  on  account  of  their  licentiousness  and  buffoonery; 
our  nine-pin  alleys  are  mere  appendages  of  drinking- 
houses ;  our  evening  parties  are  scenes  of  midnight  glut- 
tony and  drinking ;  our  musical  soirees  are  of  feeble  and 
limited  interest,  from  a  prevailing  wrant  of  relish  for 
melody,  and  the  absence  of  a  national  ballad  music ;  we 
are  deficient  in  galleries  of  painting,  and  a  taste  for  the 
fine  arts  has  not  yet  been  generally  awakened  among 
us ;  our  public  gardens  and  promenades,  few  in  number, 
and  often  in  bad  order,  are  generally  but  marts  of  intoxi- 
cating drinks  ;  finally,  to  speak  of  the  Anglo-American 
people  of  the  Valley,  they  have  but  two  patriotic  festi- 
vals in  the  year ;  from  both  of  which,  many  of  the  wise 
and  temperate  have  been  repelled,  by  the  outbursts  of 
vulgar  dissipation  which  so  often  attend  their  celebration. 
It  results,  from  all  that  has  been  said,  that  the  wearied 
student  and  care-worn  business  man,  night  after  night, 
retire  to  bed  without  having  their  imaginations  and  feel- 
ings diverted  from  the  pursuits  of  the  day,  by  any  scenes 
of  innocent  gayety ;  and  thus  their  very  dreams  prey  on 
their  nervous  systems;  prevent  the  renovation,  which 
sleep,  preceded  by  appropriate  amusements,  would  natu- 
rally produce ;  and  the  reinvigoration  which  is  required 
to  fit  them  for  the  labors  of  the  succeeding  day. 


DR.   DRAKE'S   WRITINGS.  371 

Dr.  Drake's  miscellaneous  writings  were  various  ;  but 
it  is  impossible  to  enumerate  them  all  here  ;  much  more 
to  make  extracts.  On  the  subject  of  temperance,  he 
wrote  a  good  deal ;  on  medical  education,  more.  On 
physiology  he  once  prepared  a  little  treatise  for  popular 
instruction,  and  went  so  far  as  to  have  a  portion  of  it 
printed  ;  but,  from  some  cause,  he  became  discouraged, 
and  never  finished  the  work. 

In  literary  labor  he  was  untiring.  Probably,  there 
was  not  a  man  in  the  country  who,  with  so  little  time 
left  from  professional  labors,  had  so  much  for  the  public 
service,  and  literary  occupation.  He  was  tireless  in 
industry,  ceaseless  in  enterprise.  His  mind  was  also 
fertile  in  expedients  for  new  schemes  and  new  works. 
He  was  one  of  those  people  who  were  not  only  active 
themselves,  but  kept  others  so  also. 

Dr.  Drake  was,  as  must  appear  evident  from  what  I 
have  set  forth  in  his  memoirs,  of  a  highly  poetic  tem- 
perament. Bred  up  in  the  woods,  his  lively  imagination 
seized  upon  all  the  elements  of  nature,  and  converted 
them  into  pictures  of  beauty  and  glory.  When  his  intel- 
lectual and  emotional  sensibilities  were  cultivated  and 
brought  out  by  social  affinities  and  sympathies,  these  too 
were  colored  and  depicted  in  the  hues  of  fancy.  But  the 
art  of  poetry,  its  machinery  of  rhythm  and  verse,  he 
had  little  of.  Still,  by  an  intuitive  perception  of  what  is 
necessary  to  the  sound  and  harmony  of  poetry,  he  was 
able  frequently  to  clothe  his  poetic  ideas  in  very  beauti- 
ful and  feeling  language.  I  have  given  one  example  of 
this,  in  a  funeral  hymn,  on  the  death  of  his  wife.  I  here 
give  another  example,  and  the  last  one  I  shall  quote.  It 
was  addressed  to  an  old  and  intimate  friend,  Mrs.  M.5 
and  found  among  his  papers. 


372  LIFE  OF  DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

THE 

LOVER'S    WINTER    VISIT. 

WRITTEN   ON   MY   TWENTY -FIFTH  WEDDING  DAY. 

December  22,  1832. 

DECEMBER  blew  his  frosty  breath, 
And  wrapped  the  beauteous  vale  in  death. 
The  whispering  zephyr  ceased  to  blow, 
The  rippling  brook  forgot  to  flow, 
The  waterfall  and  clatt'ring  mill, 
Awoke  no  echoes  on  the  hill. 
The  wither'd  rose  leaves  fall'n  dead 
Beneath  the  snow,  no  fragrance  shed ; 
The  ev'ning  star  sent  forth  no  gleam, 
To  sparkle  joyous  on  the  stream  ; 
No  silent  light'nings  flash'd  at  ev'n, 
Nor  rising  moon  shone  bright  in  heav'n, 
No  fire-fly  shed  her  summer  glow, 
In  mellow  splendors  on  the  snow: 
The  whipporwill,  her  vesper  lay, 
No  longer  carroll'd  on  the  way ; 
Nor  noisy  katydid  now  play'd 
The  musing  traveler's  serenade. 
But  thro'  the  chill  and  dreary  gloom, 
Like  wailing  voices  from  the  tomb 
Of  the  past  year,  the  northern  breeze 
Swept  dismal  o'er  the  leafless  trees  ; 
Or  reared  the  snow-drift  where  the  flowers 
Late  bloom'd  beneath  the  forest  bow'rs  : 
And  on  the  darkness  of  that  night, 
Fell  but  the  dim  and  yellow  light, 
Which  through  the  cabin's  open  seams, 
Came  dimly  forth,  in  flick'ring  streams. 

Now  who  is  he,  those  gleams  disclose, 
Calm,  struggling  through  those  drifting  snows  ? 
Whose  fiery  steed,  the  fierce  wind's  wrath 
Braves,  snorting,  on  the  treach'rous  path  ? 
A  sanguine  youth,  with  flaxen  hair, 
And  brow  of  thought,  slight  bent  with  care  ; 
A  son  of  Nature  more  than  Art, 


UNPUBLISHED   POETRY.  373 


i. 


Of  rustic  mien,  yet  with  a  heart 

So  true,  so  faithful,  and  so  warm, 

He  boldly  faced  the  driving  storm 

A  joyous  youth  with  hopes  unblighted, 

His  holy  vows,  not  scorn'd,  nor  slighted; 

Whose  fancy  reared  the  home  of  love, 

And,  fondly,  placed  it  far  above 

All  storms  of  sorrow  and  distress, 

The  home  of  peace  and  happiness! 

And  who  is  she  that  fires  his  soul, 
As  round  his  head  the  tempests  howl? 
The  living  star,  whose  gentle  ray, 
Could  guide  him  on  the  dang'rous  way? 
The  lovliest  maiden  of  the  vale, 
The  fairest  flower  of  Harriet-dale  ! 
Her  modest  eye  of  hazel  hue, 
Disclos'd,  e'en  to  the  passing  view, 
Truth,  firmness,  feeling,  innocence, 
Bright  thoughts  and  deep  intelligence. 
Her  soul  was  pure  as  winter's  snow, 
And  warm  as  summer's  sunniest  glow. 
When  moving  through  the  mingled  crowd, 
Her  lofty  bearing  spoke  her  proud, 
For  pride  and  pertness  own'd  her  power, 
Ere  yet  her  brow  began  to  lower. 
But  when  her  kindling  spirit  breath'd 
On  those  she  lov'd,  on  those  who  griev'd, 
Joy  felt  his  quicke'ned  pulses  leap, 
And  sorrow  e'en  forgot  to  weep. 

Before  the  hospitable  fire, 
She,  pensive,  sat  in  deep  desire 
That  he  might  safely,  quickly  come, 
Or,  fearful,  had  not  quit  his  home 
That  ruthless  night.     Then  down  the  vale, 
Her  sighs  went  floating  on  the  gale, 
To  fall  upon  her  lover's  ear, 
And  tell,  that  she  who  sigh'd  was  near. 
And  so  they  did,  or  might  have  done, 
For  now  the  prize  was  nearly  won ; 


374  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

Before  she  heav'd  another  sigh 

The  faithful  watch  dog  spoke  him  nigh  ; 

And  ere  another  moment  flew, 

He  burst,  enraptur'd  on  her  view ; 

Smiling  he  banish'd  love's  alarms, 

And  clasped  her  inliis  shiv'ring  arms. 

A  tear  of  deep  emotion  flow'd 
Slow  down  her  burning  cheek,  and  glow'd 
Like  dew-drops  on  the  blushing  rose, 
When  morn  his  joyful  radiance  throws. 
That  tear,  which  left  its  fount  in  sadness, 
Fell  on  his  throbbing  breast  in  gladness. 
Thus,  high  amidst  the  brooding  storm, 
The  flakes  of  snow  have  birth  and  form, 
But  ere  they  reach  the  opening  flowers, 
Dissolve  and  fall  in  April  showers. 


TO   MRS.   MANSFIELD, 

THE  welcome  annual  wedding  day, 
As  Time  flies  noiseless  on  his  way, 
Has  come  again,  and  with  it  brought, 
Of  other  days  the  thrilling  thought. 
Though  dark  the  thought,  around  it  glows 
The  light  which  mem'ry  kindly  throws; 
Tho*  deep  the  feeling  of  this  night, 
It  warms  my  heart  with  mild  delight. 
And  yet,  though  many  years  have  fled, 
And  HARRIET  slumbers  with  the  dead, 
These  recollections,  sad  and  dear, 
Draw  from  that  lonely  heart — a  tear. 

By  nature  formed  to  love  and  bless 
Her  friends,  in  joy  or  in  distress, 
Yourself  oft  felt  her  magic  pow'r, 
And  never  can  forget  the  hour, 
When,  in  your  mansion,  by  my  side, 
She  stood,  a  beauteous,  blushing  bride. 

D. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Reminiscential  Letters  of  Dr.  Drake  to  his  Children — His  Ancestors 
— His  Childhood — Journey  to  Kentucky — Memories  of  Mason 
County—The  first  Log-Cabin— The  Indians— Want  of  Bread- 
Indian  Attack — First  School-House — Incidents  in  Pioneer  Life. 

WHILE  lecturing  at  Louisville,  in  the  winters  of 
1847-48,  and  1848-49,  Dr.  Drake  wrote  a  series  of  let- 
ters to  his  children,  descriptive  of  his  parentage,  boy- 
hood, and  youth,  with  numerous  incidents  and  narratives 
of  pioneer  life.  These  letters  may  be  termed  "  Remin- 
iscential," and  are  written  in  an  easy,  graceful  style, 
making  in  all  a  small  volume.  They  are  one  of  the 
best  records  extant,  by  an  eye  witness  of  the  settlement, 
privations,  labors,  customs,  and  employments  of  the 
pioneers.  They  will  make  admirable  material  for  the 
historian,  when  the  present  generation  shall  have  passed 
away,  and  men  are  strangers  to  the  events  and  scenes, 
men  and  manners,  \vhich  characterized  the  first  settle- 
ment of  the  West. 

From  these  reminiscential  letters,  I  have  selected  two 
at  random,  rather  as  specimens  of  a  pleasant,  easy 
style,  which  is  seldom  seen  in  his  published  works,  than 
of  the  matter  they  contain.  His  parentage  and  boyhood 
I  have  traced  out  in  the  first  chapter  ;  but  these  letters 
will  show  something  of  the  lights  and  shadows  which 
are  not  exhibited  there : 
375 


376  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL  DKAKE. 

LOUISVILLE,  December  15,  1847. 

Two  hours  more,  my  dear  H ,  will  complete  forty-seven  years 

since  I  left  the  log-cabin  of  my  father,  and  the  arms  of  my  mother, 
to  engage  in  the  study  of  medicine  in  the  village  of  Cincinnati, 
often  at  that  time  called  Fort  Washington.  I  am  prompted  to  write 
this  letter  by  the  feeling,  that  if  I  had  (now  that  my  honored  pa- 
rents are  gone,  as  I  hope  and  trust,  to  the  abode  of  the  redeemed,)  a 
written  record  of  their  early  lives,  it  would  be  to  me  a  most  precious 
document.  I  may  anticipate,  then,  that  when  you  and  the  rest  of 
my  dear  and  devoted  children  have  reached  my  age,  and  I  have 
been  long  gone  to  join  them,  as  I  humbly  hope  to  do,  you  will  feel 
the  kind  of  interest  concerning  me,  in  every  stage  of  my  life,  that  I 
feel  in  reference  to  them.  I  have,  therefore,  determined  to  do  for 
you  what  they  were  not  able. to  do  for  their  children,  and  write  down 
some  reminiscences. 

Before  speaking  of  myself  I  must  say  something  of  my  ancestry. 
Now,  one  of  Noah  Webster's  definitions  of  that  word  is,  honorable 
descent,  or  persons  of  high  birth.  Were  my  progenitors,  then,  per- 
sons of  fortune,  learning,  or  fame?  They  were  not.  So  far  from  it, 
they  were  in  very  moderate  circumstances,  and  unknown  to  fame. 
Still,  I  stick  to  the  word;  for,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  they 
were  industrious,  temperate,  honest,  and  pious,  and  to  have  sprung 
from  such  ancestors  is  high  descent  in  the  sight  of  heaven,  if  not  in 
the  estimate  of  men.  To  sustain  such  a  family  character  is  no  easy 
task.  However  /  may  fail,  1  have  a  well-founded  expectation  that 
my  children  will  not,  and  that  the  line  of  honorable  descent  will  be 
raised  by  them  if  I  should  permit  it  to  slacken. 

My  father,  Isaac,  was  the  youngest  son  of  Nathaniel  Drake  and 
Dorothy  Retan;  my  mother,  Elizabeth,  was  the  daughter  of  — 

Shotwell  and Bonney.     The  mothers  of  both  my  parents  died, 

and  both  my  grandparents  married  again  before  my  father  and 
mother  were  married.  In  reference  to  the  children,  both  marriages 
were  unhappy;  and  the  narratives  which,  in  childhood,  I  used  to 
hear  concerning  the  conduct  of  their  step-mothers,  made  an  indeli- 
ble impression  on  my  mind. 

My  maternal  grandfather  lost  nearly  everything  he  had  by  pur- 
chasing and  supplying  the  army  of  the  revolution  with  cattle,  for 
which  he  was  paid  in  Continental  money,  that  depreciated  until 
its  value  altogether  vanished.  Both  my  grandfathers  lived  in  the 
very  midst  of  the  battle-scenes  of  that  revolution,  and,  after  a  battle 
was  fought  in  the  orchard  of  grandfather  Shotwell,  during  which 
the  family  (and  himself  in  bad  health)  retreated  to  the  cellar,  the 


.   LETTER   TO   HIS   CHILDREN.  377 

British  entered  the  house  and  destroyed  nearly  all  the  furniture. 
He  himself  being  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  was,  of  course,  a  non- 
combatant;  but  grandfather  Drake  was  not,  and  two  of  his  sons, 
including  my  father,  if  not  all  three,  were  frequently  engaged  hi  the 
partizan  warfare  of  that  region. 

After  the  marriage  of  my  parents,  about  the  year  1783,  they  went 
to  housekeeping  on  the  farm  of  my  grandfather  Drake,  where  the 
town  of  Plainfield  now  stands.  He  owned  a  gristmill  on  a  branch 
of  the  Raritan  river,  called  Boundbrook,  and  my  father's  occupation 
was  to  tend  it. 

I  was  the  first-born  son,  which,  in  some  countries,  would  have 
made  me  a  miller.  My  birth-day,  as  you  know,  was  on  the  20th  of 
October,  1785,  and  at  my  birth-place  I  spent  the  first  two  and  a  half 
years  of  my  life.  Of  my  character  and  conduct  during  that  period 
tradition  has  spoken  rather  sparingly,  and  whether  in  conduct  and 

character  J ,  P ,  C ,  F ,  or  A ,  is  most  closely 

modeled  after  me,  will  probably  never  be  known  with  much  cer- 
tainty. But  three  things  have  been  handed  down  with  undeniable 
verity.  They,  however,  were  so  original  as  to  show  that  sooner  or 
later  I  should  be  a  man  of  some  distinction  in  the  world.  You  have 
no  doubt  heard  them,  but  I  wish  to  make  them  a  matter  of  record: 

First.  I  was  precocious,  and  that,  too,  rather  in  the  feet  than  in  the 
head;  for  when  I  was  in  my  eighth  month,  I  could  waddle  across 
the  floor,  if  held  up  and  led  on  by  one  hand.  Second.  When  old  and 
locomotive  enough  to  totter  over  the  door- sill,  and  get  out  on  the 
grass,  as  I  was  sitting  there  one  day  a  mad  dog  came  along,  and 
what  do  you  think  I  did?  Strangle  him,  as  Hercules  did  the  two 
big  snakes  that  so  rashly  crawled  into  his  cradle?  No — more  than 
that !  I  looked  at  the  mad  animal,  and  he  thought  it  prudent  to  pass 
me  by  and  attack  a  small  herd  of  cattle,  several  of  which  died  of 
his  bite.  Third.  As  soon  as  I  could  run  about  I  made  for  the  mill, 
but  whether  from  the  instinct  of  the  anserine  tribe,  or  a  leaning 
toward  the  trade  of  a  miller,  doth  not  appear;  but  whatever  impulse 
prompted  my  visits  they  were  not  without  danger,  and  gave  my 
mother  a  great  deal  of  trouble. 

My  father  and  his  brothers  were  not  contented  with  their  position 
and  thought  of  emigrating.  At  that  time,  your  native  State,  Ohio, 
was  the  habitation  of  Indians  only;  and  Kentucky  was  but  nine 
years  older  than  myself.  At  this  time  some  persons  who  had  emi- 
grated to  Mason  county,  Ky.,  returned  on  a  visit,  and  gave  such  a 
glowing  account  of  the  country  that  at  length  the  iron  ties  of  affec- 
tion for  home  and  friends  were  melted,  and  a  departure  was  deter- 

32 


378  LIFE   OF   DK.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

mined  upon.  The  decision  extended  to  five  families,  the  three  broth- 
ers, Mr.  David  Morris,  and  Mr.  John  Shotwell. 

The  time  fixed  on  for  their  departure  was  the  latter  part  of  the 
spring  of  1788.  Their  first  point,  Red  Stone,  Old  Fort,  where  Browns- 
ville now  stands.  Their  mode  of  traveling  was  in  two  horse  wagons. 
The  family  of  my  father  consisted,  after  himself  and  my  mother,  of 
myself,  two  years  and  a  half  old,  and  my  sister  Elizabeth,  an  infant, 
and  my  mother's  unmarried  sister,  Lydia.  Behold,  then,  the  depar- 
ture !  these  five  persons,  with  all  their  earthly  goods,  crowded  into 
one  Jersey  wagon;  to  be  hauled  over  the  yet  steep  and  rugged  Alle- 
ghany  mountains,  and  throughout  an  overland  journey  of  nearly  four 
hundred  miles  by  two  horses. 

Their  travel  was  by  Conyell's  Ferry,  on  the  Delaware,  and  Harris's 
Ferry,  now  Harrisburg,  on  the  Susquehanna,  There  were  but  few 
taverns  on  the  way.  The  food  was  cooked  when  we  stopped  at 
night,  and  before  we  started  in  the  morning.  As  the  weather  was 
mild  our  lodgings  were  often  in  the  wagon.  In  this  important  and 
difficult  enterprise  I  have  no  doubt  I  played  (to  others)  a  trouble- 
some part;  but  I  can  say  nothing  from  memory,  and  the  only  incident 
to  which  tradition  testifies  is  that  while  on  the  Alleghanies,  when 
descending  the  steep  and  rocky  side  of  a  mountain,  I  clambered  over 
the  front  board  of  the  wagon,  and  hung  on  the  outside  by  my  hands, 
when  I  was  discovered  and  taken  in,  before  I  had  fallen  to  be  crush- 
ed, perhaps,  by  the  wheels.  Thus  you  see  my  disposition  to  leave  a 
carriage  in  suspicious  looking  places,  and  take  to  my  heels,  was  an 
original  instinct,  and  not  (as  it  exists  now)  the  result  of  experience. 
I  know  not  the  length  of  time  we  were  in  reaching  Red  Stone,  Old 
Fort,  or  how  long  the  preparation  for  the  voyage  to  Limestone,  now 
Maysville,  detained  us.  The  first  and  last  landing  was  at  Fort  Pitt, 
now  Pittsburgh.  The  danger  of  being  attacked  by  Indians  was  too 
great  to  justify  a  landing  below  that  point. 

The  boat  in  which  my  parents  were,  met  with  no  accident,  and  on 
the  30th  of  June,  1788,  just  sixty-four  days  after  the  first  settlement 
of  Ohio,  at  Marietta,  we  landed  at  Limestone,  which  then  consisted 
of  a  few  cabins  only,  though  Washington,  four  miles  off,  was  some- 
thing of  a  village  of  log-cabins. 

Before  landing  father  got  his  ankle  sprained;  he  had  to  be  carried 
cut  of  the  boat,  and  then  could  put  but  one  foot  on  the  land  of  pro- 
mise. He  was  not  very  heavy,  for  he  had  in  his  pockets  but  one  dollar, 
and  that  he  was  asked  for  a  bushel  of  corn!  They  did  not  remain 
long  at  the  Point,  for  there  were  no  accommodations,  and  the  danger 
of  Indians  from  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  was  great.  Washington 


LETTER   TO   HIS   CHILDREN.  379 

was  our  first  resting-place.  As  father's  ankle  got  better  he  began 
to  think  of  doing  something,  for  provision  had  to  be  made  for  a 
whole  year,  as  it  was  now  too  late  to  plant  anything,  even  had  there 
been  cleared  land  to  be  planted.  At  that  time  there  was  a  great 
emigration  into  the  interior  counties  of  Kentucky,  chiefly  from  the 
State  of  Virginia,  Lexington,  settled  about  the  year  1776,  had  in  fact 
become  already  a  considerable  town,  a  kind  of  mart  and  emporium 
for  all  the  infant  settlements  of  the  State,  except  those  of  the  Falls, 
where  I  am  now  writing.  Consequently,  a  considerable  amount  of 
merchandize  had  to  be  hauled  to  that  town  from  Limestone,  the 
great  landing-place  of  the  State. 

This  state  of  things  offered  employment  for  father,  and  he  and 
Richard  Ayers  determined  to  go  to  Lexington  with  a  wagon-load  of 
goods.  The  enterprise  was  perilous, for  the  Indians  from  the  north 
side  of  the  river  were  in  the  habit  of  attacking  travelers  and  wagons 
on  that  road,  especially  north  of  Paris. 

The  first  night,  soon  after  dark,  they  were  alarmed  by  the  yells  of 
Indians.  Unable  and  unprepared  for  any  effective  resistance,  they 
escaped  with  their  blankets  into  the  bushes,  leaving  their  wagons  to 
be  pillaged,and  their  horses  to  be  stolen.  While  lying  in  this  unen- 
viable condition,  with  no  better  prospect  than  the  possible  preserva- 
tion of  their  lives,  the  yellers  came  so  near  as  to  convince  them  that 
the  sounds  were  not  human;  and  although  neither  had  ever  seen  or 
heard  a  wolf,  they  decided  (no  doubt  correctly)  that  a  pack  was 
near  them,  and  returned  to  their  fire  as  the  safest  place.  When  they 
reached  Bryant's  station,  five  miles  from  Lexington,  they  greatly 
needed  bread,  as  their  diet  was  almost  entirely  game,  eaten  some- 
times without  salt;  there  they  purchased  a  piece  of  "jonny  cake/'  as 
large  as  two  hands,  for  which  they  paid  one-and-six-pence  or  twenty - 
five  cents. 

Delivering  their  goods,  and  receiving  pay,  a  new  era  commenced. 
They  had  means  and  knew  where  they  could  purchase,  and,  return- 
ing, they  brought  back,  to  the  great  joy  of  their  families,  meal,  but- 
ter, cheese,  tea,  sugar,  and  other  articles,  regarded  as  luxuries  of  the 
most  delicate  kind. 

From  the  day  of  landing  of  the  little  colony,  (composed  of  the 
three  Drakes,  and  Shotwell,  and  Morris,)  the  older  and  more  intelli- 
gent men  had  been  casting  about  for  a  tract  of  land  which  they 
might  purchase,  and  divide  amongst  themselves.  At  length  they 
fixed  upon  a  "settlement  and  pre-emption,"  eight  miles  from  Washing- 
ton, on  the  Lexington  road.  Hard  by  the  latter,  there  was  a  salt 
spring,  and  the  deer  and  the  buffalo  were  in  the  habit,  as  at  other 


380  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

salt  springs,  of  licking  the  surrounding  earth.  This  tract  of  one 
thousand  four  hundred  acres  they  purchased  from  a  man  by  the 
name  of  May,  and  decided  on  calling  their  new  home  Mayslick,  a 
decision  sufficiently  indicative  of  uncultivated  taste.  Desiring  to 
live  so  near  each  other  that  no  house,  in  the  event  of  being  attacked 
by  the  Indians,  would  be  unsupported  by  some  other,  they  decided 
that  every  subdivision  should  have  an  angle,  or  corner,  in  the  salt 
lick.  Their  building  now  gave  occupation  to  all  who  could  wield 
an  axe,  for  the  colony  was  to  winter  here,  and  the  autumn  was  upon 
them.  As  the  distance  was  too  great  from  Washington  to  permit 
their  returning  there  in  the  evening  to  lodge,  their  practice  was,  after 
supping,  to  retire  into  the  woods  and  lodge,  separately,  among  the 
cane,  which  flourished  in  great  luxuriance  beneath  the  parti-colored 
canopy  of  autumnal  leaves.  In  this  way  they  expected  to  elude  the 
Indians.  No  attack  was  made  upon  them  by  night  or  day,  and, 
before  winter  set  in,  their  rude  cabins,  each  with  its  port-holes  and 
a  strong  bar  across  the  door,  were  completed.  The  roofs  were  of 
clap-boards,  and  the  floors  of  puncheons,  for  sawing  was  out  of  the 
question.  Another,  and  to  nearly  the  whole  colony  the  last,  removal 
now  took  place.  Kentucky  was  no  longer  a  promise,  but  a  posses- 
sion; not  an  imagination,  but  a  reality;  they  ceased  to  be  Jersey- 
men  and  became  Virginians,  for  a  time;  the  daughter  was  still  a 
member  of  her  mother's  house. 

Now  fancy  to  yourself  a  log-cabin  of  the  size  and  form  of  E 's 

dining  room,  one  story  high,  without  a  window,  with  a  door  open- 
ing to  the  South,  with  a  half-finished  wooden  chimney,  with  a  roof 
on  one  side  only,  without  any  upper  or  lower  floor;  and  fancy  still 
further,  a  man  and  two  women  stepping  from  sleeper  to  sleeper, 
(poles  laid  down  to  support,  the  floor  when  he  should  find  time  to 
split  the  puncheons),  with  two  children,  a  brother  and  sister,  sitting 
on  the  ground  between  them,  as  joyous  as  ever  you  saw  Frank  and 
Nell,  and  you  will  have  the  picture  that  constitutes  my  first  mem- 
ory. The  mordant  which  gives  permanence  to  the  tints  of  this 
domestic  scene,  was  a  sharp  rebuke  from  my  father,  for  making  a 
sort  of  whooping  guttural  noise  (which  is  still  ringing  in  my  ears) 
for  the  amusement  of  my  sister  Lizzy,  then  about  a  year  old.  Thus 
my  first  memory  includes  an  act  of  discipline  by  my  father,  and  well 
would  it  have  been  for  many  who  have  grown  up,  uncontrolled  by 
parental  admonition,  if  they  had  been  subjected,  in  due  time,  to  a 
parental  sway  as  firm  and  gentle  as  that  which  presided  over  my 
childhood. 

My  dear  H ,  when  I  began  this  letter  I  supposed  that  before 


LETTER  TO   HIS   SON.  381 

I  reached  its  fifteenth  page,  I  should  reach  the  events  of  my  fifteenth 
year,  when  I  left  the  roof  of  my  devoted  parents  to  begin  the  study 
of  medicine;  but  behold,  I  have  only  gotten  through  a  fifth  part  of 
that  period.  I  have  merely  finished  my  traditional  narrative — have 
but  reached  the  era  of  reminiscence;  a  good  evidence,  I  think,  that, 
in  mental  feelings  and  tastes,  I  am  a  little  way  in  the  epoch  of  gar- 
rulous old  age.  At  the  rate  I  have  advanced,  the  recollections  of 
the  next  twelve  years  would  make  a  little  volume,  notwithstanding 
I  am  far  from  having  a  tenacious  historical  memory.  To  write  them 
down  would  be  to  me  a  pleasure,  per  se;  and  the  thought  that  they 
might  afford  any  gratification  to  my  children  and  dear  grandchildren, 
would  give  to  the  undertaking  much  additional  interest. 

At  some  future  time  I  may,  perhaps,  address  such  a  narrative  to 
some  of  you.  At  present,  duty  commands  me  to  stop  and  turn  my 
thoughts  upon  topics,  which  throughout  the  period  to  which  I  refer, 
were  so  little  anticipated  by  me  that  I  did  not  even  know  there 
were  such  subjects  for  the  human  mind  to  occupy  itself  upon. 

Should  I  not  read  and  correct  my  rapidly  running  epistle,  you  will 
not,  I  hope,  think  it  strange.  It  would  be  no  enviable  task  to  travel 
a  second  time  over  sixteen  dull  and  inaccurately  written  pages. 

YOUR  LOVING  FATHER. 


LOUISVILLE,  December  17th,  1847, 

MY  DEAR  SON  : — There  are  events  in  our  lives  of  such  moment 
that  when  the  anniversary  of  their  occurrence  returns,  the  memory 
of  them  seems  to  bring  with  it  the  memory  of  many  others,  no  way 
connected  with  them,  but  in  the  continued  consciousness  of  the 
individual. 

The  same  is  true  of  nations,  or  the  national  mind.  When  the 
anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Saratoga  or  Trenton  comes  round,  if  we 
notice  it  at  all,  our  range  of  thought  on  the  war  of  the  Revolution  is 
quite  limited;  but  on  the  Fourth  of  July  we  are  incited  to  a  review  of 
the  causes,  events,  and  consequences  of  that  war.  The  lives  of  dif- 
ferent persons,  however,  are  very  unlike  each  other,  as  to  the  range 
of  comparative  importance  in  what  they  do  or  what  happens  to 
them.  Thus,  some  die  at  three  score  years  and  ten,  on  the  spot 
where  they  were  born,  having,  throughout  the  whole  period,  been 
subjected  to  nearly  the  same  influences  and  engaged  in  the  same 


382  LIFE  OF  DK.    DANIEL  DKAKE. 

pursuits.  This  is  the  case  with  the  son  of  the  farmer,  who  inherits 
4  the  homestead  and  cultivates  it  as  his  father  before  him  had  done. 

There  are  others,  however,  whose  paths  of  life  are  eccentric,  and 
they  pass  out  of  the  orbits  of  their  ancestors ;  are  subjected  to  new 
influences,  both  attractive  and  repulsive,  and  finally  lose  all  visible 
connection  with  the  states  of  society  in  which  they  were  respectively 
born  and  reared.  In  the  lives  of  such,  there  must  of  necessity  be 
decisions,  actions,  and  events  of  great  relative  importance.  In  my 
own  life,  my  departure  from  the  house  of  my  father,  for  the  study  of 
medicine,  was  the  governing  event ;  and  when  the  anniversary  of 
that  act  comes  round,  it  calls  up  a  multitude  of  reminiscences,  by  no 
means  limited  to  the  act  itself,  but  ranging  far  up  and  down  the 
chronometer  of  my  life.  It  was  the  16th  day  of  December  when  I 
started,  this  day,  the  17th,  I  entered  the  State  of  Ohio,  to-morrow 
will  be  the  anniversary  of  rny  arrival  at  Cincinnati,  and  two  days 
after,  the  20th,  on  which  I  began  my  studies,  forty-seven  years  ago; 
and  also  the  day  of  my  marriage,  seven  years  afterwards.  Thus, 
you  see,  I  am  in  the  midst  of  my  greatest  anniversary  epochs,  and, 
of  course,  in  the  state  of  thought  and  feeling  into  which  it  precipitates 
me  deeper  and  deeper,  I  find,  with  each  rolling  year. 

Under  these  influences,  I  was  prompted  in  1845  or  '46,  to  give 

E.— an  off-hand  sketch  of  the  circumstances  connected  with  my 

departure  from  home;  and  when  the  annual  exascerbation  returned, 
two  days  ago,  I  was  prompted  to  address  to  H a  letter  contain- 
ing a  traditional  narrative  of  the  events  of  father's  family  through  the 
first  three  years  of  my  life.  At  the  close  of  that  letter,  I  declared 
that  I  should  and  would  dismiss  from  my  mind  the  matters,  a  part  of 
which  were  embodied  in  its  pages;  but  when  I  ordered  them  out  they 
would  not  go.  Even  while  before  my  class,  engaged  in  delivering  an 
extempore  lecture  on  pleurisy,  they  still  hovered  round,  and  as  soon  as  I 
left  the  university,  began  to  gamble  before  me  as  friskily  as  a  troop 
of  fairies  in  the  nectary  of  a  blue  violet.  I  saw  then  that  I  had  no 
resource  but  to  drown  them  in  ink  and  lay  them  out  on  paper,  like 
butterflies  in  the  cabinet  of  the  entemologist.  This  I  have  now  un- 
dertaken to  do;  but  as  drowned  fairies  are  not  as  fair  as  the  living, 
nor  dead  butterflies  so  beautiful  as  those  which  are  swarming  in 
the  beams  of  the  summer  sun,  so  I  am  quite  sure  you  will  find 
my  delineations  very  far  inferior  to  the  images  which  memory  has 
recalled  into  existence. 

And  still  there  are  relations  in  life — those  of  parents  and  children, 
of  husband  and  wife,  of  brother  and  sister,  of  friend  and  friend — 
which  give  importance,  and  even  sanctity,  to  the  smallest  events  and 


LETTER  TO  HIS   SON.  383 

humblest  actions;  and  hence  I  feel  that  you  and  the  others  for  whom 
these  sheets  are  intended,  may  find  an  interest  in  them  sufficient  to, 
justify  the  expenditure  of  time  which  their  presentation  may  require 
at  my  hands. 

For  the  next  six  years  of  my  life,  my  father  continued  to  reside  at 
the  same  place,  in  the  original  log-cabin,  which  in  the  course  of  time 
acquired  a  roof,  a  puncheon  floor  below  and  a  clap-board  floor  above, 
a  small  square  window,  and  a  chimney  carried  up  with  cats  and 
clay  to  the  heighth  of  the  ridge  pole.  The  rifle,  indispensable  for 
hunting  and  defence,  lay  on  two  pegs  driven  into  one  of  the  logs. 

The  axe  and  the  scythe,  (no  Jerseyman  emigrated  without  that 
instrument,)  were  kept  at  night  under  the  bed,  as  weapons  of  defense 
against  the  Indians.  In  the  morning,  the  first  duty  was  to  ascend 
to  the  loft  and  look  through  the  cracks  for  Indians,  lest  they  might 
have  planted  themselves  near  the  door,  to  rush  in  when  the  strong 
cross-bar  should  be  removed  and  the  heavy  latch  raised.  But  no 
attack  was  ever  made  on  his  or  any  other  of  the  five  cabins  which 
composed  the  station. 

The  first  and  greatest  labor  of  father  was  to  clear  sufficient  land 
for  a  crop,  which  was  of  course  to  consist  of  corn  and  a  few  garden 
vegetables.  In  this  labor  I  was  too  young  to  participate,  and  conse- 
quently he  was  obliged  to  perform  the  whole.  The  soil  was  highly 
productive,  and  the  autumn  of  1789  would  have  brought  forth  a 
sufficient  abundance,  but  that  on  the  night  of  the  last  day  of  August, 
there  came  so  severe  a  frost  as  to  kill  the  unripe  corn,  and  almost 
break  the  hearts  of  those  who  had  watched  its  growth,  day  by  day, 
in  joyous  anticipation. 

From  the  time  of  their  arrival  in  Kentucky,  fourteen  months  be- 
fore, they  had  suffered  from  want  of  bread,  and  now  found  them- 
selves doomed  to  the  same  deficiency  for  another  year. 

There  was  no  fear  of  famine,  but  they  cloyed  on  animal  food,  and 
sometimes  almost  loathed  it,  though  of  an  excellent  quality.  Deer 
were  numerous,  and  wild  turkeys  numberless.  The  latter  were  often 
so  fat  that  in  falling  from  the  tree  when  shot,  their  skins  would 
burst.  There  was  no  longing  for  ihejlesh  pots  of  their  native  land, 
but  their  hearts  yearned  for  its  neat  and  abounding  wheat-bread  trays. 
In  this  craving,  it  seems  I  played  no  unimportant  part,  for  I  would 
often  cry  and  beg  for  bread  when  we  were  seated  round  the  table,  till 
they  would  have  to  leave  it  and  cry  themselves. 

When  I  was  about  four  and  a  half  years  of  age,  the  Indians 
attacked  a  body  of  travelers  who  were  encamped  one  night,  about  a 
mile  from  our  village,  on  the  road  to  Washington.  They  were  sit- 


384:  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

ting  quietly  around  their-camp  fire,  when  the  Indians  shot  among 
them  and  killed  a  man,  whose  remains  I  saw  brought  into  the  vil- 
lage the  next  day  on  a  rude  litter. 

The  heroic  presence  of  rnind  of  a  woman,  saved  the  party.  She 
broke  open  a  chest  in  one  of  the  wagons  with  an  axe,  got  the  ammu- 
nition, gave  it  to  the  men,  and  called  upon  them  to  fight.  This,  with 
the  extinction  of  the  camp-fires,  caused  the  Indians  to  retreat.  Seve- 
ral of  the  men  of  the  village  went  to  the  relief  of  the  travelers;  and 
one  of  them,  a  young  married  man,  ran  into  the  village  and  left  his 
wife  behind  him. 

Up  to  the  victory  of  Wayne,  in  1794,  the  danger  from  Indians  still 
continued,  that  is,  through  a  period  of  six  years  from  the  time  of  our 
arrival;  I  well  remember  that  Indian  wars,  midnight  butcheries, 
captivities,  and  horse-stealing  were  the  daily  topics  of  conversation. 

In  or  near  the  year  1791,  rny  aunt  Lydia  Shotwell  was  married. 
The  company  came  armed,  and  while  assembled  in  the  house  report 
came  that  the  Indians,  about  five  miles  up  the  road  toward  Lexing- 
ton, had  attacked  a  wagon.  All  the  armed  men  mounted  their 
horses  and  galloped  off  in  a  style  so  picturesque  that  I  shall  never 
forget  it.  The  alarm  proved  to  be  false. 

At  that  period  the  Shawnees,  residing  on  the  Scioto,  and  the 
"Wyandots,  on  the  Sandusky,  were  our  great  enemies.  The  children 
were  told  at  night  to  lie  still  and  go  to  sleep,  "  or  the  Shawnees  will 
catch  you ! "  Through  the  period  of  which  I  have  been  speaking, 
and  for  several  years  afterwards,  as  I  well  recollect,  nearly  all  my 
troubled  or  vivid  dreams  included  either  Indians  or  snakes,  the  cop- 
per-colored man  and  the  copper-headed  snake,  then  extremely  com- 
mon. Happily  I  never  suffered  from  either.  My  escape  from  the 
latter  I  ascribe  to  cowardice,  or  to  express  it  more  courteously,  to 
a  constitutional  cautiousness,  beyond  the  existence  jof  which  my 
memory  runneth  not. 

This  original  principle  of  my  nature,  which,  throughout  life,  has 
given  me  some  trouble  and  saved  me  from  some,  was,  perhaps,  aug- 
mented by  two  causes:  First  For  a  longtime  I  had  no  male  com- 
panions, my  chief  playmates  were  my  female  cousins,  and  while  they 
contributed  to  soften  my  manners  and  quicken  my  taste  for  female 
society,  they  no  doubt  increased  my  natural  timidity.  Second. 
My  mother,  by  nature  and  religious  education  was  a  non-combatant, 
and  throughout  the  whole  period  of  her  tutelage  sought  to  impress 
on  me  not  to  fight.  Father  was  personally  brave,  and  I  can  now 
recollect  that  he  did  not  concur  in  the  counsels  of  my  mother. 

At  the  period  of  which  I  am  writing   I  had  a  severe  sickness, 


LETTER  TO  HIS   SON.  385 

•<casioned  by  a  fall  on  the  ice,  which  produced  an  aocess  on  the 
spine.  I  was  attended  by  Dr.  Goforth,  of  Washington,  and  well  re- 
member how  much  I  dreaded  his  probe.  Already,  when  five  years  old, 
I  had  been  promised  to  him  as  a  student,  and  among  the  recollections 
of  that  period  is  being  called  Dr.  Drake.  No  wonder,  then,  as  nearly 
sixty  years  have  rolled  away,  that  I  sometimes  have  a  difficulty  in 
passing  myself  off  for  the  old  and  primary  Dr.  Drake. 

Soon  after  the  settlement  of  Mayslick,  all  the  people  being  either 
professors  of  religion  in  or  adherents  to  the  Baptist  Church,  a  log 
meeting-house  was  built  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  up  the  road, 
and  Parson  Wood,  of  Washington,  frequently  came  out  to  preach. 
He  was  often  at  my  father's,  and  used  to  take  me  between  his 
knees  and  talk  to  me  on  religious  subjects.  At  length  he  brought 
with  him  a  catechism,  and  when  I  was  six  years  old,  and  could 
read,  I  was  put  to  its  study.  It  opened  with  the  doctrines  of  the 
Trinity,  which  so  perplexed  me  that  I  retain  a  prejudice  against  all 
catechisms  to  this  hour. 

Soon  after  father  settled  in  Mayslick,  a  man  from  Virginia  settled 
on  a  corner  of  his  farm.  The  terms  were,  (such  as  then  prevailed,)  to 
build  a  cabin,  clear  as  much  ground  as  he  pleased,  and  cultivate  it  for 
five  years,  rent  free.  This  man  had  a  son  named  Tom,  and  we  often 
played  together — a  companionship  which  at  length  involved  me  in  a 
serious  difficulty,  when  I  was  about  six  or  seven  years  of  age.  When 
his  father  and  mother  were  from  home  he  and  I  went  into  the  truck- 
patch  and  pulled  off  all  the  young  cucumbers.  The  next  day  Tom's 
father  made  complaint  to  mine  of  the  trespass,  and  I  was  brought 
under  dealings.  I  remember  that  father  called  it  stealing — said  it 
was  very  wicked,  and  that  there  was  danger  of  my  being  taken  off  to 
Washington  to  jail.  The  salutary  impression  was  so  strong  and 
durable  that  I  never  committed  another  act  of  the  kind  till  after  I 
commenced  the  study  of  medicine,  when  (I  think  it  was  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1801 )  I  was  tempted  one  morning  (Dr.  Goforth  living  where 
Mrs.  Lytle  now  resides)  to  clamber  over  the  fence,  and  get  five  or 
six  peaches,  which  grew  where  Mr.  Jacob  Strader  now  lives. 

I  remember  another  calamitous  event  of  those  days.  When  about 
six  years  old,  I  was  sent  to  borrow  a  little  salt  from  one  of  the  neigh- 
bors. Salt  at  that  time  was  about  three  dollars  a  bushel.  It  was  a 
small  quantity,  tied  up  in  paper,  and  when  I  had  gotten  half  way 
home  the  paper  tore,  and  most  of  the  precious  grains  rolled  out  on 
the  ground.  As  I  write  the  anguish  I  felt  at  that  sight  seems  to  be 
almost  revived.  I  had  not  then  learned  that  the  spilling  of  salt  is 
portentous,  but  felt  that  it  was  a  great  present  calamity.  Mother 

33 


386  LIFE   OF   DR.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

had  taught  me  to  consider  the  waste  of  bread,  or  anything  that 
could  be  used  as  food,  as  sinful. 

When  I  recur  to  this  and  other  incidents  which  I  cannot  definitely 
relate,  I  discover  that  it  was  an  original  trait  of  character  with  me, 
to  aim  at  a  faithful  execution  of  whatever  was  confided  to  me;  and  I 
felt  unhappy  if,  through  neglect  or  misfortune,  I  made  a  failure.  To 
this  hour  I  am  more  solicitous  about  that  which  is  entrusted  to  me, 
than  that  which  is  entirely  my  own;  and  hence,  I  have  given  a  good 
deal  of  time  to  public  affairs  (on  a  small  scale  to  be  sure),  but  often 
at  the  expense  of  my  private  interests.  But  never  mind  1 

My  first  schoolmaster  had  the  Scotch  name  of  M'Quilty,  but 
whether  he  was  from  the  "  land  o'  cakes  "  I  cannot  tell.  He  taught 
in  a  small  log-cabin  in  sight  of  father's,  up  the  brook  which  runs 
through  Mayslick,  and  a  very  beautiful  stream  it  was  when  it  had 
any  water  running  in  it. 

Although  the  country  was  so  newly  settled,  our  locality  presented 
strange  people,  and  novel  and  curious  sights.  The  emigration  into 
Kentucky  at  that  period  was  immense,  and  nearly  the  whole  passed 
through  Mayslick.  Many  of  the  travelers  were  wealthy,  and  as  the 
roads  did  not  admit  of  carriages,  they  journeyed  on  horseback.  I 
often  saw  ladies  and  gentlemen  riding  side  by  side,  and  remember 
that  I  thought  that  the  latter  must  be  the  happiest  persons  on  earth, 
an  estimate  which  nearly  sixty  years  has  not  entirely  overruled. 

From  the  reminiscence  to  which  I  have  just  recurred,  I  find  that 
admiration  for  the  sex  was  among  the  earliest  sentiments  developed 
in  my  moral  nature.  It  has  swayed  me  through  life,  and  will,  I 
suppose,  continue  to  govern  me  to  its  close.  "When  that  solemn 
event  shall  come,  I  hope  to  see  female  faces  round  my  bed, 

"  And  wish  a  woman's  hand  to  close 
My  lids  in  death,  and  say — Repose!" 

For  several  years  tiur  chief  article  of  cultivation  was  Indian  corn, 
but  near  the  center  of  the  field,  in  some  spot  not  easily  found  by 
trespassers,  was  a  truck-patch,  in  which  water-melons  and  musk- 
melons  were  planted,  while  in  some  corner  we  had  a  turnip  patch. 
If  the  former  supplied  the  place  of  peaches  in  their  season, the  latter 
were  a  substitute  for  apples  throughout  the  winter.  The  virgin  soil 
of  Kentucky  produced  the  best  turnips  that  ever  grew;  the  tubers 
literally  rested  on  the  ground,  and  only  sent  their  spindle-shaped 
roots  into  the  loose  black  mold  below.  In  winter,  when  at  night  the 
family  were  seated  round  a  warm  fire,  made  blazing  bright  with 
pieces  of  hickory  bark,  a  substitute  for  candles,  and  every  member 


LETTER   TO    HIS   SON.  387 

was  engaged  with  a  knife  in  scraping  and  eating  a  juicy  turnip,  the 
far-famed  pears  and  apples  of  their  native  Jersey  were  forgotten  by 
the  old  people,  and  the  perils  and  privations  which  followed  on  their 
arrival  were  remembered  only  to  be  rehearsed  to  their  children.  Seve- 
ral luxuries  from  the  surrounding  woods  were,  on  other  evenings, 
substituted  for  that  which,  much  more  than  the  potatoe,  deserves  the 
name  of  pomme  de  terre.  These  luxuries  were  walnuts,  hickory  nuts, 
and  winter  grapes. 

As  it  is  now  after  one  o'clock  A.  M.,  I  shall  reserve  further  remi- 
niscences to  another  time. 

YOUR  AFFECTIONATE   FATHER, 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

Dr.  Drake's  Religious  Life — Religious  Writings — Character — Profes- 
sional Objects — Family — Last  Sickness — Death. 

I  SHALL  close  this  brief  and  yet  faithful  narrative  "of 
the  life  and  services  of  a  man  of  genius  and  of  science, 
with  some  account  of  his  inner  life  and  spirit.  The  fruit 
tree  is  many  years  in  growing — all  the  time  gaining 
something  and  loving ;  but  it  is  not  till  the  period  of 
change  is  nearly  past,  till  the  tree  has  magnitude  and 
age,  that  it  discloses  to  the  view  what  is  its  real  charac- 
ter and  elements.  The  unfolding  must  be  complete  or  a 
part  is  hid,  and  we  can  only  imagine  what  it  might  have 
been.  In  the  moral  life  of  man,  a  large  part — generally 
the  greater  part — is  composed  of  a  series  of  conflicts — the 
moral  battle  of  life — in  which  it  is  quite  uncertain  for  a 
time,  what  the  issue  may  be.  We  look  upon  young 
men  and  think  them  nearly  perfect,  so  high  is  their 
promise,  and  yet  in  a  short  time  see  them  laid  in  moral 
ruin.  The  battle  of  life  has  gone  against  them.  The 
spirit  of  darkness  has  prevailed.  On  the  other  hand, 
we  see  those  of  whom  we  have  doubts ;  talents  they 
have,  but  they  are  strongly  tempted.  Sometimes  they 
stumble  and,  for  a  moment,  fall,  but  the  angel  of  their 
destiny  still  upholds  them,  and,  in  spite  of  faults  and 
failings,  we  see  them  recover.  Their  sun  passes  the  meri- 
dian in  splendor  and  sets,  leaving  behind  them  a  calm, 
quiet,  peaceful  light. 

Dr.  Drake,  in  his  early  life,  belonged  not  exactlj  to 
S88 


HIS   RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER.  389 

either  of  these  classes,  but  had  to  pass  through  his  period 
of  probation,  of  trial,  of  earnest  labor,  of  temptation,  of 
conflict,  and  this  was  long  developing,  but  brightening 
all  the  time,  till  his  career  ended  in  the  bright  and  peace- 
ful light. 

I  have  related  elsewhere,  that  Dr.  Drake's  parents 
were  extremely  pious  persons — both  Baptists,  in  Ken- 
tucky, though  their  ancestors  in  Jersey  were  of  other 
persuasions.  The  early  teachings  and  admonitions  of 
his  mother,  especially,  seem  to  have  been  incessant.  To 
him  she  continually  gave  line  upon  line  and  precept  upon 
precept.  She  always  had,  also,  with  her  son  a  perfect 
confidence;  so  that  in  a  long  correspondence,  during 
many  years,  there  is  always  exhibited  to  him  absolute 
frankness.  This  piety  of  ancestors  and  influence  of 
mothers,  seems  to  be  that  means  which  God  makes  the 
real  angel  of  destiny  to  guide  and  save  many  from 
destruction. 

It  is  hard  to  conceive,  for  a  young  man,  a  period  of 
greater  peril  and  temptation  than  that  which  surrounded 
Dr.  Drake  on  his  first  arrival  in  Cincinnati.  Yet  he 
withstood  these  temptations,  passed  the  trial  safely,  and  led 
a  pure  and  honorable  life.  In  all  this,  however,  he  had 
no  very  deep  religious  feeling.  On  the  contrary,  in  the 
active  and  ambitious  part  of  his  career,  his  mind  was  in- 
tently engaged  on  the  struggles  of  his  profession  and  his 
business.  At  times  he  had,  like  many  others,  his  periods 
of  doubt,  but  never  of  total  eclipse.  In  one  word,  he 
was  actively,  zealously  engaged  in  the  affairs  of  the 
world,  giving  little  time  to  the  calm,  serious  meditation 
of  the  solemn  truths  of  religion  and  eternity.  Alas !  of 
how  few,  even  in  the  church,  can  we  say  anything  better  ? 
But  the  great  principle  of  Christianity  was  implanted  in 


390  LIFE   OF  DB.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

early  life,  and  he  never  lost  sight  of  it.  Like  the  vision 
of  his  early  ambition,  as  depicted  by  himself,  it  returned 
at  last  to  bless  him. 

He  was  always  attached  to  the  Episcopal  Church,  and 
somewhere  about  1815,  the  First  Episcopal  Church  of 
Cincinnati,  (now  Christ  Church,)  was  organized  in  his 
house,  corner  of  Third  and  Ludlow  streets.  I  know 
not  the  circumstances  which  induced  his  attachment  to 
the  Episcopal  Church,  when  his  parents  were  Baptists, 
and  his  old  friend,  Dr.  Wilson,  the  Presbyterian  pastor ; 
but  I  suppose  it  safe  to  say  that  it  was  owing  to  his  wife, 
who  belonged  to  an  Episcopal  family.  The  death  of  that 
wife  made  a  deep,  enduring  impression  upon  him,  in 
many  ways.  It  dwelt  upon  him  ;  and  while  mourning  for 
her,  his  mind  turned  inwardly  upon  himself;  and  in  the 
midst  of  his  most  active  and  interesting  labors,  there  were 
times  when  he  looked  in  upon  that  wonderful  world  in 
which  dwells  the  soul,  and  out  upon  that  world  of  being 
in  which  imagination  soars,  and  beyond,  to  that  deeper 
and  more  glorious  world  which  is  eternal  and  unfading. 
What  spiritual  effect  such  contemplations  may  have  had 
on  his  mind,  or  on  any  one,  it  is  impossible  to  know. 
The  spirit  of  God,  like  wind,  bloweth  where  it  listeth. 
It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that,  in  his  own  estimation, 
a  change  took  place,  and  in  1840,  Dr.  Drake  was  re- 
ceived into  the  communion  of  St.  Paul's  Episcopal 
Church,  Louisville,  then  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the 
late  Kev.  William  Jackson.  He  had  contemplated  such 
a  step  for  a  long  time,  and,  when  taken,  it  was  a  source 
of  joy  and  satisfaction.  He  was  ever  after  a  faithful, 
consistent,  and  devoted  disciple  of  Jesus.  By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them,  said  the  Savior — and  if  man 
ever  bore  fruit  meet  for  repentance,  he  did.  In  the 


HIS   RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER.  391. 

midst  of  a  life  the  most  active,  various,  energetic,  ambi- 
tious, as  many  thought  controversial,  he  stopped  on  the 
-way  to  behold  and  adore  with  a  contrite  heart,  a  Savior 
bleeding,  whose  blood  was  shed  for  him — a  Lamb  taking 
away  the  sin  of  the  world.  Henceforth  he  exhibited  the 
fruits  of  the  spirit,  in  joy  and  suffering,  in  peace  and 
patience,  in  humility  and  meekness. 

Dr.  Drake,  though  an  Episcopalian,  adopted,  at  once, 
these  opinions,  and  that  spirit,  which  is  denominated 
"•Low  Church."  He  thought  that  the  spirit  of  the 
church  and  not  its  form  was  the  essential  part ;  that  the 
church  was  a  spiritual,  and  not  merely  a  hierarchical 
body;  that  its  object  was  true  religion, and  not  worldly 
grandeur ;  that  it  was  protestant,  not  papal.  In  one 
word,  he  belonged  to  the  church  spiritual,  under  the 
protestant  organization.  It  is  vain  to  suppose  that  on 
this  point  there  is  not  a  cardinal  difference ;  and  while 
the  world  lasts  that  controversy  must  go  on.  A  man 
cannot  be  on  two  sides  of  that  question,  and  Dr.  Drake 
was  not  the  man  to  make  the  attempt.  The  protestant 
and  spiritual  was  his  church,  let  others  do  what  they 
might.  He  could  not  be  idle  in  religion,  and  accord- 
ingly wrote  for  the  Episcopal  Recorder  (Philadelphia,)  a 
series  of  able  articles  under  the  signature  of  a  "  Western 
Layman,"  discussing  the  views  of  Puseyism. 

He  was  also  one  of  the  founders  of  the  society  for  the 
promotion  of  Evangelical  Knowledge,  in  the  church  ; 
and  whose  address  to  the  public  he  wrote.  I  regret  that 
the  brief  limits  of  this  volume  do  not  allow  me  to  make 
some  extracts  from  his  religious  writings.  But  the  pages 
which  contain  this  memoir  are  drawing  to  a  close,  and  I 
am  not  editing  his  works,  so  much  as  exhibiting  his 
services. 


392  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

Of  Dr.  Drake's  person,  character,  and  habits,  some 
notice  may  be  expected;  but  I  have  given  in  this  narra- 
tive all  the  elements  which  enter  into  such  a  description ; 
and  if,  from  these,  the  reader  cannot  form  an  accurate 
idea  of  the  man,  I  know  not  that  I  can  do  it  better.  An 
abstract  account  of  him  would  be  a  mere  philosophical 
analysis  of  his  mind,  to  the  general  reader,  nerveless  and 
unrealizing ;  while  the  gossip  of  private  life  might  gratify 
curiosity,  but  would  certainly  convey  but  a  one-sided 
view  of  his  character.  A  man  like  Dr.  Drake  lives  in 
his  actions,  for  his  life  was  action. 

There  are  traits  of  professional,  social,  and  private 
character  which  ought  to  be  exhibited,  in  some  degree, 
in  distinct  lines.  In  doing  this,  I  shall  adopt  almost  en- 
tirely the  language  of  Dr.  Gross,*  because,  Dr.  Gross,  as 
a  physician,  a  co-professor,  co-laborer,  friend,  and  in 
daily  professional  intercourse  for  many  years,  is,  in  many 
respects,  the  best  witness  to  his  character  and  habits  in 
the  best  period  of  his  life.  To  his  account  I  shall  add 
only  such  remarks  as  may  make  the  account  in  some 
things  more  distinct. 

i. — DR.  DRAKE'S  PERSON  AND  HABITS. 

"  In  regard  to  our  friend,"  says  Dr.  Gross,  "  his  per- 
sonal appearance  was  striking  and  commanding.  No 
one  could  approach  him,  or  be  in  his  presence,  without 
feeling  that  he  was  in  contact  with  a  man  of  superior 
intellect  and  acquirement.  His  features,  remarkably 
regular,  were  indicative  of  manly  beauty,  and  were  light- 
ed up  and  improved  by  blue  eyes  of  wonderful  power 

*  Dr.  Gross'  discourse  on  the  Life,  Character  and  Sendees  of  Daniel 
Drake. 


tii. '  & '  '  - x 

HIS   PERSON  AND   HABITS.  393 

and  penetration.*  When  excited  by  anger,  or  emotion 
of  any  kind,  they  fairly  twinkled  in  their  sockets,  and  he 
looked  as  if  he  could  pierce  the  very  soul  of  his  opponent. 
His  countenance  was  sometimes  staid  and  solemn,  but 
generally,  especially  when  he  was  in  the  presence  of  his 
friends,  it  was  radiant  and  beaming.  His  forehead, 
though  not  expansive,  was  high,  well-fashioned,  and 
eminently  denotive  of  intellect.  The  mouth  was  of  mode- 
rate size,  the  lips  of  medium  thickness,  and  the  chin 
rounded  off  and  well-proportioned.  The  nose  was  promi- 
nent, but  not  too  large.  The  frosts  of  sixty-seven  win- 
ters had  slightly  silvered  his  temples,  but  had  made  no 
other  inroad  upon  his  hair.  He  was  nearly  six  feet  high, 
rather  slender,  and  well -formed. 

"  His  power  of  endurance,  both  mental  and  physical, 
was  extraordinary.  He  seemed  literally  incapable  of 
fatigue.  His  step  was  rapid  and  elastic,  and  he  often  took 
long  walks  sufficient  to  tire  men  much  younger,  and,  ap- 
parently, much  stronger  than  himself.  He  was  an  early 
riser,  and  was  not  unfrequently  seen  walking  before  break- 
fast with  his  hat  under  his  arm,  as  if  inviting  the  morn- 
ing breeze  to  fan  his  temple  and  cool  his  burning  brain. 

"  His  manners  were  simple  and  dignified ;  he  was  easy 
of  access,  and  eminently  social  in  his  habits  and  feelings. 
His  dress  and  style  of  living  were  plain  and  unostenta- 
tious. During  his  residence  in  Cincinnati,  previously  to 
his  connection  with  this  University,  his  house  was  the 
abode  of  a  warm  but  simple  hospitality.  For  many  years 
no  citizen  of  that  place  entertained  so  many  strangers  and 
persons  of  distinction." 

*  See  the  steel  plate  portrait,  at  the  oeginnmg  of  this  volume, 
which  is  a  yerv  g-ood  likeness. 


S94  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL   BRAKE. 


II.— HIS     INDUSTRY. 

"But  his  life  was  not  only  eventful,  it  was  also  emi- 
nently laborious.  No  medical  man  ever  worked  harder, 
or  more  diligently  and  faithfully ;  his  industry  was  un- 
tiring, his  perseverance  unceasing.  It  was  to  this  ele- 
ment of  his  character,  blended  with  the  intensity  we  have 
described,  that  he  was  indebted  for  the  success  which  so 
pre-eminently  distinguished  him  from  his  professional 
cotemporaries.  He  had  genius,  it  is  true,  and  genius  of 
a  high  order,  but  without  industry  and  perseverance  it 
would  have  availed  him  little  in  the  accomplishment  of 
the  great  aims  and  objects  of  his  life.  He  seemed  to  be 
early  impressed  with  the  truth  of  the  remark  of  Seneca: 
'  Non  est  ad  astro,  mollis  a  terris  via}  He  felt  that  he 
did  not  belong  to  that  fortunate  class  of  beings  whose  pe- 
culiar privilege  it  is  to  perform  great  enterprise  without 
labor,  and  to  achieve  great  ends  without  means.  His 
habits  of  industry,  formed  in  early  boyhood,  before,  per- 
haps, he  ever  dreamed  of  the  destiny  that  was  awaiting 
him,  forsook  him  only  with  his  existence.  His  life,  in 
this  respect,  affords  an  example  which  addresses  itself  to 
the  student  of  every  profession  and  pursuit  in  life,  which 
the  young  man  should  imitate,  and  the  old  man  not  forget." 

The  industry  of  Dr.  Drake  was  astonishing,  and  in 
what  I  have  described  of  his  labors  and  services,  I  think 
the  reader  will  wonder  how  so  much  could  have  been  ac- 
complished ;  when  it  is  recollected  how  much  of  profes- 
sional practice  he  had,  how  much  time  he  employed  in 
society,  and  how  much  he  traveled.  On  the  last  point  I 
will  remark,  that  Dr.  Drake  told  me  that  his  travels  had 
prolonged  his  life,  and  without  them  he  could  not  have 
endured  the  labors  of  the  last  twelve  years. 


HIS    VIKTUOUS    LIFE.     T.f  395 

III. — HIS     HUMILITY. 

"  There  was  one  trait  in  his  character  of  which  I  have 
not  yet  spoken,  and  which  I  approach  with  much  diffi- 
dence. I  allude  to  his  humility.  So  largely  did  this 
enter  into  his  conduct  and  character,  that  I  cannot,  for 
a  moment,  suppose  that  it  was  not  real  and  genuine. 
From  what  I  saw  of  it,  in  the  different  circumstances 
of  his  life,  it  appeared  to  me  as  if  it  had  been  deeply 
inlaid  in  his  very  constitution,  and  that  it  was,  therefore, 
compelled,  not  unfrequently,  to  exhibit  itself  in  his  con- 
duct and  conversation.  What  corroborates  this  opinion, 
is  that  in  his '  Reminiscential  Letters,'  already  more  than 
once  alluded  to,  he  speaks  of  the  low  state  of  his  pride. 
'That  passion,5  lie  remarks,  'was,  indeed,  never  strong; 
and,  moreover,  was  counterpoised  by  a  humility  which 
always  suggested  how  far  short  I  came  of  the  excellence 
which  ought  to  be  attained.' " 

After  his  religious  profession,  his  humility  was  strik- 
ingly brought  out.  I  have  known  him  literally  to  crucify 
his  pride ;  and  what  to  frail  humanity  can  be  a  greater 
sacrifice  ? 

IV. — HIS    VIRTUOUS   LIFE. 

"  Dr.  Drake  never  had  a  vice.  His  enemies  .cannot 
point  to  a  single  act  of  his  life  in  which  there  was  the 
slightest  approximation  to  any  exhibition  of  the  kind. 
His  moral  character  was  cast  in  the  finest  and  purest 
mold.  He  could  not  have  been  bad.  His  concien- 
tiousness  and  love  of  approbation  were  too  large  to 
admit  of  it.  The  attachment  and  reverence  which 
he  cherished  for  his  parents  were  opposed  to  every 
feeling  of  licentiousness  and  immorality.  Their  early 
training  produced  an  impression  upon  his  mind  which 


396  LIFE  OF  DE.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

neither  time  nor  circumstances  could  efface,  but  which 
steadily  grew  with  his  growth  and  strengthened  with  his 
strength.  His  conduct,  in  all  the  periods  and  phases  of 
his  life,  was  squared  by  the  strictest  rules  of  honesty,  and 
by  the  nicest  regard  for  the  feelings  and  rights  of  others. 
Although  he  was  long  poor,  he  always  paid  his  debts  to 
the  uttermost  farthing.  "Pay  what  thou  owest,"  was 
with  him  a  golden  maxim. 

"  For  public  amusements  he  had  not  only  no  love,  but 
they  were  eminently  repulsive  to  his  tastes  and  feelings. 
The  impression  made  upon  his  tender  mind  at  Mays- 
lick,  by  this  species  of  life  on  parade  and  gala  days, 
among  his  father's  neighbors,  was  indelible.  He  never 
played  a  game  of  cards  in  his  life;  gambling  and  gam- 
blers he  alike  detested.  His  whole  career,  in  fact,  from 
its  commencement  to  its  close,  was  an  exhibition  of  at- 
tachment to  moral  principle.  His  life  was  one  of  con- 
stant and  untiring  industry  and  exertion,  exhausting 
meditation,  and  the  most  resolute  self-denial." 

V. — HIS   FAULTS. 

Genius  has  its  infirmities, and  virtue  its  shadows;  but 
those  of  Dr.  Drake  were  few  and  not  very  important, 
except  in  their  annoyance  to  himself.  One  was,  per- 
haps, an  excess  of  ambition ;  but  who  has  ever  attained 
anything  great  without  ambition  ?  His  acute  sensitive- 
ness to  attack  and  opposition,  made  him  repel  them  too 
readily,  and  thus  have  the  appearance  of  a  quarrelsome- 
ness which  he  really  did  not  possess.  Dr.  Gross  says 
truly,  that  his  early  associations  with  the  Medical  Col- 
lege were  unfortunate.  His  colleagues  were  men  inferior 
to  himself,  both  in  mind,  manner,  and  information. 
They  were  not  ashamed  (I  mean  most  of  them)  to  resort 


HIS   PROFESSIONAL  OBJECTS  397 

to  acts  and  trickery  which  honorable  men  despise.  This 
disgusted  him  with  their  conduct.  This  led  again  to 
misrepresentation,  misconstruction,  crimination,  and  re- 
crimination, which  embittered  many  years  of  his  profes- 
sional life. 

He  was  also  too  discursive  for  his  own  interest.  He 
undertook  too  many  things.  All  of  them,  however, 
tended  to  one  point,  his  reputation  as  a  teacher  and 
practitioner  of  medicine ;  and  was  not  that  a  just  and 
legitimate  object  of  care  and  effort  ? 

Beyond  these  I  know  not  whether  Dr.  Drake  had  any 
faults  or  foibles  worth  mentioning.  He  and  they  are  alike 
gone ;  and  beyond  the  grave,  where  the  career  of  man  on 
earth  is  ended,  it  is  not  worth  while  to  pursue  or  remem- 
ber his  infirmities.  They  are  gone,  and  forever ! 

VI. — HIS   PROFESSIONAL   OBJECTS  AND 
METHODS   OF   PRACTICE: 

Nearly  forty  years  before  his  death,  Dr.  Drake  com- 
menced his  labors  as  a  Teacher  of  Medicine,  and  that 
is  the  Jcey  to  his  whole  professional  life.  To  teach  medi- 
cine, and  thus  to  elevate  the  profession,  was  the  object 
and  ambition  of  Dr.  Drake's  life  during  forty  years. 
For  this  his  profession  owes  him  a  debt  of  lasting  grati- 
tude. What  man  could  do  for  his  profession  he  has 
done.  The  judgment  upon  his  professional  acumen  and 
methods  of  treatment,  is  thus  given  by  Dr.  Gross : 

"He  was  the  founder  of  no  new  sect  in  medicine. 
For  such  an  enterprise  he  had  no  ambition,  even  if  he 
had  been  satisfied,  as  he  never  was,  of  its  necessity.  He 
found  the  profession,  when  he  entered  it,  at  the  dawn 
of  the  present  century,  steadily  advancing  in  its  lofty 
and  dignified  career,  refreshed,  and,  in  some  degree, 


398  LIFE  OF   DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

renovated,  by  his  immediate  predecessors,  and  his  chief 
desire  was  to  engraft  himself  upon  it  as  an  honest,  con- 
scientious, and  successful  cultivator.  How  well  he  per- 
formed the  part  which,  in  the  order  of  Providence,  he 
was  destined  to  play,  in  this  respect,  the  medical  world 
is  fully  apprised.  No  man  was  more  sensible  than  he 
of  the  imperfections  and  uncertainties  of  the  healing  art, 
and  no  one,  in  this  country,  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
has  labored  more  ardently  and  zealously  for  its  improve- 
ment. For  the  systems  of  the  schools,  no  physician  and 
teacher  ever  entertained  a  more  thorough  and  unmitiga- 
ble  contempt.  He  was  an  Eclectic  in  the  broadest  and 
fullest  sense  of  the  term.  His  genius  was  of  too  lofty 
and  pervasive  an  order  to  be  trammeled  by  any  authori- 
ty, however  great,  respectable,  or  influential.  Systems 
and  system-mongers  were  alike  despised  by  him,  as  they 
could  not,  in  his  judgment,  be  otherwise  than  dangerous 
in  their  practical  bearings,  and  subversive  of  the  best 
interests  of  science.  It  was  nature  and  her  works  that 
he  delighted  to  study  and  to  contemplate;  not  that  he 
regarded  with  indifference  whatever  was  good  and  valu- 
able in  the  productions  of  others,  but  simply  because  he 
preferred  to  drink  at  the  fountain  instead  of  at  the  turbid 
stream.  Like  Hippocrates  and  Sydenham,  he  was  a  true 
observer  of  nature,  and,  we  may  add,  a  correct  inter- 
preter of  her  laws  and  phenomena ;  his  ambition  was  to 
be  her  follower  during  life,  and  at  his  death  to  leave  a 
record,  a  true  and  faithful  transcript,  of  the  results  of  his 
investigations  for  the  benefit  of  his  brethren. 

"  I  had  great  confidence  in  his  professional  acumen ; 
I  saw  enough  of  him  in  the  sick  chamber  to  satisfy  me 
that  he  had  a  most  minute  and  thorough  knowledge  of 
disease,  and  of  the  application  of  remedial  agents.  There 


HI&  SOCIAL   AFFECTIONS — FAMILY.  399 

was  no  one  whom  I  would  rather  have  trusted  in  my 
own  case,  or  in  that  of  a  member  of  my  family." 

VII. — HIS  SOCIAL  AFFECTIONS — FAMILY. 

"  In  his  friendships,  usually  formed  with  much  cau- 
tion, he  was  devoted,  firm,  and  reliable,  as  many  who 
survive  him  can  testify.  His  attachments  were  strong 
and  enduring.  Few  men,  as  he  himself  declared  to  me 
only  a  few  months  before  his  death,  possessed  so  many 
ardent  and  faithful  friends.  His  social  qualities  were 
remarkable.  He  loved  his  friends,  enjoyed  their  society, 
and  took  great  pleasure  in  joining  them  at  the  domestic 
board ;  where,  forgetting  the  author  and  the  teacher,  he 
laid  aside  his  '  sterner  nature,'  and  appeared  in  his  true 
character,  plain  and  simple  as  a  child,  cheerful,  amiable, 
and  entertaining." 

In  society  Dr.  Drake  shone  more  truly  in  his  real, 
personal  character  than  in  any  other  situation.  He  was 
remarkably  fond  of  society,  from  that  of  his  dearest  kin- 
dred to  that  of  any  intelligent  stranger.  In  the  remotest 
parts  of  the  country,  traveling  in  search  of  materials  for 
his  book,  he  found  friends  and  acquaintances  by  the 
social,  kindly  spirit  which  he  showed  to  them. 

In  his  family  and  kindred,  Dr.  Drake  seemed  to  bear 
the  love  to  every  member,  of  one  who,  by  nature  and  affec- 
tion, was  their  guardian  angel.  And,  out  of  his  blood 
kindred,  there  were  those  whom  he  cherished  like  a  father, 
and  who  mourned  him  with  the  lamentations  of  children. 

When  Mrs.  Drake  died,  he  had  three  children,  who 
still  survive  him.  There  were  Charles  D.  Drake,  Esq., 
now  of  St.  Louis  ;  Mrs.  Elizabeth  M.  McGuffey,  wife  of 
Alexander  H.  McGuffey,  Esq.,  and  Mrs.  Harriet  E. 
Campbell,  widow  of  the  late  James  P.  Campbell  of 


400  LIFE   OF   DE.   DANIEL   DRAKE.    U 

Chillicothe.  They  were  quite  young  when  their  mother 
died,  and  their  father  literally  performed  the  part  of  both 
father  and  mother.  As  they  grew  up,  married,  and  had 
children,  his  heart  seemed  to  intertwine  with  those  of 
both  children  and  grandchildren.  It  was  to  them  he 
addressed  the  series  of  reminiscential  letters,  to  which  I 
have  alluded,  and  of  which  I  have  given  two  in  the 
last  chapter.  In  that  kind  of  literature  they  have 
scarcely  ever  been  excelled  ;  perhaps  never.  They  are 
simple,  graphic,  and  beautiful.  ^'"i 

VIII. — HIS    LAST    SICKNESS    AND     DEATH. 

I  have  related  his  religious  conversion  ;  the  depth  and 
humility  of  his  faith;  and,  as  I  draw  near  the  closing 
scene,  I  ought  to  allude  one  moment  to  the  position  of 
&  physician  of  the  body  converted.  From  toil  and  am- 
bition in  the  world,  he  turns  from  these  physical  elements 
to  contemplate  the  glorious  vision  of  an  emancipated 
soul,  and  becomes  the  humble  disciple  of  Jesus,  the 
Redeemer  of  souls.  There  is  something  in  this  position 
of  a  physician  which  is  not  precisely  like  that  of  other 
men  in  the  same  condition.  He  draws,  at  once,  the 
strong  contrast  between  the  physical  and  the  spiritual. 
He  has  analyzed  the  body.  He  has  examined  the  earth, 
and  now  turns  his  telescope  to  other  parts  of  creation, 
and  seeks  new  discoveries  in  other  worlds.  Science  is 
great ;  but  it  is  not  everything.  SCIENCE  comes  to  man- 
kind like  the  angel  Michael  to  Adam,  in  Milton's  pic- 
ture, giving  forth  revelations  of  creation,  and  announcing 
the  glory  to  come.  It  is  the  eternal  demonstration  of 
the  Creator,  and  the  incontrovertible  testimony  to  Good- 
ness perpetual,  and  to  Holiness  perfect.  But  science  is 
finite,  and  the  soul  longs  for  the  infinite !  The  scientific 


HIS   RELIGIOUS   CHARACTER.  401 

physician  puts  his  knife  to  the  dead  heart,  and  feels  no 
throb ;  to  the  brain,  and  finds  no  spirit,  shall  he  say, 
4C  There  is  no  soul,"  because  his  scalpel  cannot  touch  it? 
He  knows  there  is.  He  saw  its  movements  in  the  tab- 
ernacle, as  plain  as  the  bird  in  the  cage ;  but  where  is 
it  ?  It  is  not  here.  In  what  blue  depth  of  yonder  sky 
has  the  escaped  bird  winged  its  flight  ?  Shall  he  say  the 
soul  was  mortal  ?  Its  groans  in  the  tabernacle,  its  sighs 
for  the  better,  its  wild  ambition  for  the  glorious,  its  soar- 
ing imagination,  its  longings  to  penetrate  the  infinite — 
all  say — No !  "  This  soul  is  immortal,"  said  the  great 
orator  of  the  Romans,  when  turning  from  the  darkness 
of  paganism,  he  could  find  its  evidences  in  nothing  but 
the  glory  of  creation !  That  body  is  under  the  knife  of 
the  anatomist,  but  the  soul — where  is  it  ?  Human  curi- 
osity asks  in  vain.  Science  cannot  tell ;  but  it  does  say, 
like  the  angel  at  the  grave  of  Christ,  "  It  is  not  here,  but 
risen."  Standing  on  this  .verge,  religion  begins.  The 
evidences  of  science  cease,  and  the  evidences  of  revela- 
tion commence. 

Dr.  Drake  always  held  religion  in  profound  respect,  and 
lived  a  pure  and  upright  life ;  but  made  no  profession  of 
religion  till  about  twelve  years  before  his  death.  An  un- 
devout  astronomer  is  mad.  An  undevout  physician  can 
hardly  be  considered  less  so.  He  knows  there  is  a  spirit, 
and  his  scalpel  finds  it  not.  "Where  can  he  find  it,  but 
in  that  spiritual  world  which  God  has  revealed  ?  Where 
can  he  rest,  but  in  that  truth  which  prophets,  apostles, 
disciples,  saints,  and  good  men — the  great  cloud  of  wit- 
nesses— have  had  from  the  beginning,  through  Jesus, 
the  Redeemer?  Dr.  Drake  became  a  devout  physician, 
and  when  the  close  of  life  drew  near,  though  the  change 
was  sudden,  it  found  him  ready. 

34 


402  LIFE   OF   DR.   DANIEL   DRAKE. 

The  last  appearance  of  Dr.  Drake  in  public,  was  on 
the  occasion  of  a  public  meeting  of  citizens  to  honor  the 
memory  of  Daniel  Webster.  He  had  been  several  days 
ill  with  a  cold,  but  could  not  refrain  from  being  present. 
In  the  course  of  the  evening,  he  rose  and  said  that, 
"having  recently  taken  part  in  the  funeral  services  of 
another  illustrious  American,*  he  would  not  yield  to  an 
expression  of  his  emotions  on  the  present  occasion ;  but, 
before  he  sat  down,  he  would  point  attention  to  the 
manner  of  this  illustrious  man's  death,  and  to  those 
utterances  which,  from  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion, 
and  because  they  were  the  last  words  of  Daniel  Web- 
ster, would  forever  stand  out  among  the  most  prominent 
and  the  most  frequently  turned  to  by  posterity.  As  an 
humble  professor  of  the  Christian  religion, "f  continued 
Dr.  Drake,  "I  call  the  attention  of  the  young  men  of 
this  country  to  Daniel  Webster's  dying  declarations  of 
the  value  of  the  Christian  religion,  of  man's  utter 
dependence  on  divine  mercy.  To  the  example  of  the 
mightiest  intellect  of  the  age,  let  me  point  those  who 
have  thought  religion  not  mete  for  men  of  culture  and 
genius.  Who  shall  say  that  the  simple  utterance  of  the 
departed  statesman — HTiy  rod,  thy  rod,  thy  staff,  thy 
staff,  they  comfort  me ' — does  not  constitute  the  greatest 
act  of  that  life  of  great  acts  ?  " 

Of  the  last  sickness  and  death  of  Dr.  Drake,  I  have 
compiled  the  following  account,  from  a  letter  of  Mrs. 
Campbell  to  her  brother,  the  statement  of  his  son-in-law, 
A.  H.  McGuffey,  Esq.,  and  some  observations  of  my  own : 

uFor  two  weeks  before  his  attack,  he  had  been  suffer- 
ing from  a  violent  cold,  though  he  would  not  consent  to 

*  Henry  Clay.  t  Cincinnati  Gazette. 


DB.  DRAKE'S  LAST  SICKNESS.  403 

give  np  any  of  his  duties,  either  at  college  or  hospital, 
in  consequence  of  it.  On  Tuesday  evening,  October  26, 
after  attending  the  Webster  meeting,  he  had  a  chill,  but 
on  Wednesday  morning  he  went  to  the  college  and 
lectured.  That  evening  he  had  a  chill  again,  and 
passed  a  most  uncomfortable  night.  On  Thursday,  he 
had  considerable  fever,  and  suffered  much  with  his 
head,  and  coughed  almost  incessantly,  but  would  not 
consent  to  go  to  his  bed-room,  and  continued  all  day  on 
the  sofa  in  the  parlor.  A  mustard  poultice  was,  in  the 
evening,  applied  to  the  back  of  his  neck,  and  he  passed 
a  rather  better  night.  On  Friday  morning,  he  returned 
to  the  parlor  again,  and  continued  there  all  day,  having 
company  constantly.  By  six  o'clock,  his  brain  became 
painfully  excited,  and  he  agreed  to  go  to  bed.  He 
passed  an  uncomfortable  night.  On  Saturday  morning, 
he  rose  and  went  to  the  parlor  until  his  bed-room  should 
be  arranged.  He  then  returned  to  it,  and  passed  the 
day  in  his  easy  chair,  with  cold  applications  to  his  head, 
and  warm  baths  to  his  feet.  On  that  day  he  became  a 
little  troubled  about  himself,  and  desired  Alexander  to 
find  his  will,  and,  as  that  could  not  be  found,  to  prepare 
another.  On  Saturday  night,  about  twelve  o'clock,  he 
called  me,  and  told  me  the  distress  in  his  head  was  so 
great  that  he  would  be  compelled  to  bleed  himself, 
though  he  was  aware  that  bleeding  prostrated  him 
excessively.  I  wished  to  send  for  Dr.  Eidgely,  but  he 
would  not  allow  me,  and  he  sat  upon  the  side  of  the 
bed,  and  took  about  a  pint  of  blood  from  his  arm,  and 
while  I  was  applying  the  bandage,  I  found  that  he  had 
become  entirely  insensible.  When  he  recovered,  he  said 
that  his  head  was  much  relieved.  On  Tuesday  after- 
noon, he  was  cupped  on  his  side,  which  relieved  the 


404:  LIFE   OF  DK.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

pain  he  had  there,  and  moderated  his  cough  very  much, 
On  Sunday,  he  gave  directions  with  regard  to  his  will, 
and  passed  a  more  comfortable  night.  On  Monday 
morning,  he  sat  up  long  enough  to  have  his  bed  made, 
and  afterwards  sat  up  in  bed  and  read  over  his  will. 
He  was,  however,  very  much  prostrated,  but  on  Monday 
night  would  not  allow  me  to  sit  up  with  him.  He  was 
obliged,  though,  to  call  me  about  twelve,  and  I  found 
him  dreadfully  prostrated  from  the  action  of  senna. 
I  gave  him  quinine  and  hot  brandy  in  considerable 
quantities,  and  sent  for  Dr.  Eichards,  who  did  not  see 
him  until  he  had  much  revived.  From  that  time  he 
seemed  to  be  very  hopeless  of  himself. 

"  On  Monday,  he  had  desired  you  to  be  written  to,  and 
on  Tuesday  evening  the  physicians  agreed  that  we  had 
better  telegraph  you,  though  they  would  not  admit  there 
was  any  danger.  Tuesday  evening  the  spell  of  sinking 
approached,  but  was  kept  off  by  medicines  and  hot  ap- 
plications. That  night  he  consented  that  Dr.  Tandy 
should  watch  with  him,  and  he  had  a  more  comfortable 
night,  though  the  distress  in  his  head  continued  to  be  very 
great  all  the  time.  On  Wednesday,  he  asked  if  you  had 
been  written  to,  and  seemed  satisfied  when  I  told  him 
you  had  been  telegraphed.  He  repeatedly  said  that  day, 
that  all  our  efforts  were  useless,  and  his  mind  wandered 
a  good  deal,  though  he  could  collect  his  thoughts  and 
converse  rationally. 

"  Wednesday  night  Dr.  Richards,  Jr.,  sat  up  with  him, 
and  he  was  very  miserable.  I  did  not  leave  him  until 
eleven,  and  in  a  short  time  after,  though  Dr.  Eichards 
was  standing  by  his  bed,  he  raised  up  and  rang  his  bell 
several  times.  I  wrent  to  him,  and  found  him  very 
uneasy,  apparently,  at  the  presence  of  a  comparative 


BE.  DRAKE'S  LAST  SICKNESS.  405 

stranger,  and  did  not  leave  him  again. .  He  was  suffer- 
ing great  distress — not  pain,  but  great  mental  distress — - 
which  he  could  describe  in  no  other  way  than  that  he  had 
4  a  horror.'  About  4  o'clock  he  said  he  wished  to  see 
Eev.  Mr.  Tyng,  and  when  I  told  him  that  he  was  absent 
from  the  city,  lie  desired  to  see  Eev.  Dr.  Eice.  I  sent 
for  him,  and  he  came  immediately.  Father  conversed 
rationally  with  him,  though  even  his  prayers  and  con- 
versation could  not,  for  a  moment,  dispel  the  dreadful 
distress  he  was  suffering. 

"  On  Thursday,  he  asked  to  have  some  hymns  sung  to 
him,  and  when  I  sung  our  mother's  funeral  hymn,  he 
said  he  wished  that  sung  at  his  funeral,  but  the  singing 
disturbed  him.  On  Thursday  evening,  he  said  to  me  that 
the  vital  powers  were  all  failing;  and  I  think  his  expres- 
sion was  that  there  was  a  lesion  in  his  side.  The  physi- 
cians thought  it  very  important  that  he  should  sleep,  and 
he  was  to  take  a  small  dose  of  morphine.  The  family 
retired  at  8  o'clock,  and  as  I  sat  by  his  bed,  he  took  my 
hand,  and  said  in  a  perfectly  natural  tone,  4  Well,  my 
daughter.'  He  then  attempted  to  feel  his  pulse,  and 
raised  his  hands  to  observe  the  nervous  twiching  in  them ; 
and  when  I  said  to  him,  c  You  have  had  that  ever  since 
you  were  sick,'  he  replied,  ;  Yes,  my  sickness  in  1825 
left  me  just  in  this  condition.'  I  believe  these  were 
the  last  words  he  ever  spoke.  I  gave  him  his  medicine 
at  9  o'clock,  and  he  turned  over  on  his  side,  in  a  perfectly 
natural  attitude,  and,  as  I  supposed,  fell  into  a  sweet 
sleep. 

"  Dr.  Tandy  came  at  half  past  ten,  and  I  gave  him  to 
his  care ;  but  in  about  an  hour  he  found  his  breathing 
very  hard,  and  could  not  rouse  him  to  take  his  medicine. 
I  succeeded  in  forcing  down  several  spoonfuls  of  raw 


406  LIFE   OF  DR.   DANIEL  DRAKE. 

brandy,  and  we  applied  mustard  poultices  all  over  the 
body,  but  we  never  could  rouse  him  from  the  lethargy, 
which  continued  until  6  o'clock  on  Friday  evening,  when 
his  wearied  spirit  rested  from  its  labors,  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Savior,  whom  he  had  so  loved  and  delighted  to  serve. 

On  Sunday,  previous  to  his  death,  sitting  with  Mr. 
McGuffey,  he  bemoaned  his  inability  to  think  or  feel, 
saying  that  he  seemed  to  have  suffered  a  complete  emo- 
tional annihilation;  that  he  was  not  able  to  feel  any 
interest  in  anything ;  that  even  eternal  things  seemed  to 
have  lost  their  interest ;  but  that  he  remembered,  that 
years  before  he  had  offered  himself  to  the  Savior,  and 
had  ever  since  enjoyed  a  constantly  increasing  hope  of 
acceptance;  and  that  that  memory  (for  in  his  present 
condition  it  was  nothing  more)  was  an  unspeakable  com- 
fort and  solace  to  him  ;  that  he  clung  to  that  only. 

On  Monday,  he  talked  to  Mr.  McGuffey  about  the 
unfinished  condition  of  his  great  work,  saying,  that  to 
complete  it  had  been  his  only  earthly  ambition,  and  that 
he  hoped  God  would  spare  him  for  that  end. 

On  Tuesday,  his  sufferings  were  so  great  that  he  had 
no  longer  any  hope  or  desire  for  recovery.  He  said  that 
God  had  taught  him  the  folly  of  all  earthly  hopes,  the 
vanity  of  all  human  expectations;  that  he  no  longer 
desired  to  live  to  finish  his  book ;  and  that  his  sufferings 
from  nervous  atrophy  were  so  great  that  bodily  pain 
would  be  a  luxury. 

It  was  on  Thursday  morning,  I  think,  when  visiting 
him,  that  he  said  to  me,  in  the  midst  of  great  suffering, 
"  In  this  dying  condition  1  am  in  a  state  of  emotional 
annihilation.  If  I  had  not  made  my  peace  with  God, 
through  my  Kedeemer,  I  could  not  do  it  now.  I  trust  I 
have  done  that  long  since." 


CONCLUSION.  407 

"  During  Friday,"  says  Mr.  McGuffey,  "  when  loudly 
called  by  a  familiar  voice,  he  would  partially  open  his 
eyes ;  and  during  the  forenoon  he  made  faint  efforts  to 
swallow  the  fluids  which  were  placed  in  his  mouth. 
But  the  lethargy  steadily  gained  ground,  and  his  breath- 
ing became  more  and  more  labored,  until  about  five 
o'clock,  when  his  pulse  became  imperceptible,  and  his 
breathing  less  heavy.  His  breathing  became  gentler 
and  shorter,  till,  at  last,  it  ceased  so  gradually  that  we 
could  not  say  when  his  lungs  ceased  their  functions. 
But  just  at  this  solemn  moment,  when  all  eyes  were  fixed 
on  the  face  of  the  departing,  he  closed  his  mouth  most 
naturally,  drew  up  and  placed  upon  his  breast  the  right 
hand,  which  had  for  hours  lain  motionless  by  his  side, 
the  eyes  opened  and  beamed  with  an  unearthly  radiance, 
as  if  at  the  same  time  clasping  in  and  reflecting  the 
glories  of  heaven,  and — the  spirit  was  with  God  who 
gave  it." 

I  have  given  here  merely  the  outline  of  a  character 
which  was  not  merely  eminent  in  the  medical  world, 
but  was  intimately  associated  with  the  civil,  social,  and 
scientific  growth  and  being  of  the  Ohio  valley ;  and 
whose  name,  history  will  preserve  as  among  the  chiefest 
founders  and  worthiest  citizens  of  the  republic. 

I  have  not  dwelt  upon  those  domestic  incidents,  or 
those  traits  of  private  character,  which  are  essential  to 
the  portrait  of  a  man,  or  the  delineation  of  a  friend.  I 
have  said  only  what  history  should  say,  to  be  just  to  the 
community  or  the  citizen.  It  is  said,  that  history  is  only 
filled  with  the  names  of  heroes  and  of  statesmen.  But 
who  is  the  hero  if  he  who  has  fought  the  battle,  and 
won  worthily  the  victory  of  life,  be  not  one  ?  History 


408  LIFE   OF  DK.    DANIEL   DRAKE. 

will  not  always  be  written  in  blood.  The  better  time  is 
coming.  Even  ancient  history  has  preserved  the  name 
of  the  Grecian  Hippocrates,  when  Greece  herself  is  in 
ruins,  and  monumental  marbles  have  crumbled  away. 
So  let  us  remember  the  founders  of  Ohio.  We  beheld 
them  come,  as  pioneers,  among  the  woods,  and  we  now 
behold  an  empire  where  their  footsteps  have  trod.  Let 
Justice  record  their  acts.  Let  Genius  praise  them.  And 
when,  in  time  to  come,  there  shall  be  a  better  civiliza- 
tion, and  a  greater  glory  than  Greece  ever  knew,  then 
let  their  names  go  mingling  with  its  fame  forever  I 


THE   END. 


-aPFLEG-ATE  &  COMPANY, 


No.  43  MAIN  STREET,  CINCINNATI. 

In  addition  to  a  large  and  varied  assortment  of 

School,  Classical,  Theological  and  Miscellaneous  Books, 

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VALUABLE  STANDARD  WORKS, 

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after  by  enlightened  and  discriminating  minds,  and  as  worthy 
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Among  their  publications  may  be  found  the  following,  to 
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APPLEGATE  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

DR.  ADAM  CLARKE'S  COMPLETE  COMMENTARY 
ON  THE  OLD  AND  NEW  TESTAMENTS. 

With  a  portrait  of  the  author,  engraved  expressly  for 
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From  the  Nashville  and  Louisville  Christian  Advocate. 
"  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  any  contribution  to  Sacred 
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as  a  prodigy  of  human  learning,  or  as  a  monument  of 
what  perseverence  and  industry,  within  the  compass  of  a 
single  lifetime,  can  accomplish,  it  will  long  continue  to 
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merit.  It  is  a  treasury  of  knowledge,  in  the  accumula- 
tion of  which,  the  author  seems  to  have  had  no  purpose 
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DR,  ADAM  CLARKE'S   COMMENTARY   ON  THE 
NEW  TESTAMENT. 

2  vols.  super-royal  tfvo.     Plain  and  embossed  gilt. 

The  increasing  demand  for  Dr.  Clarke's  Commentary 
on  the  New  Testament,  has  induced  us  to  issue  an  edition 
on  superior  paper,  large  clear  type,  handsomely  and  sub- 
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THE  COMPLETE  WORKS  OF  THOMAS  DICK,  LL.  D 

• 

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"  DICK'S  WORKS. — Those  who  read  at  all,  know  both 
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It  has  long  found  acceptance  with  the  public." — Presby- 
terian Review,  Edinburg. 


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lished. The  work  is  comprised  in  two  volumes  of  about 
600  pages  each,  containing  the  prefaces  of  Rollin  and  the 
"  History  of  the  Arts  ai*  1  Sciences  of  the  Ancients,  which 
have  been  omitted  in  mcst  American  editions." — Spring- 
field Republic. 

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— -— ,  •  •'  ^  .^ 

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to  competent  hands,  and  will  be  found  complete. 

From  the  Central  Christian  Herald. 

"  One  hundred  and  forty  years  ago,  when  there  were 
no  daily  newspapers  nor  periodicals,  nor  cheap  fictions  for 
the  people,  the  SPECTATOR  had  a  daily  circulation  in  Eng- 
land. It  was  witty,  pithy,  tasteful,  and  at  times  vigorous, 
and  lashed  the  vices  and  follies  of  the  age,  and  inculcated 
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Belles-Lettres  to  have  studied  the  Spectator,  and  we  are 
certain  our  age  is  not  wise  in  the  selection  of  some  of 
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"  But  we  do  not  design  to  criticise  the  book,  but  have 
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is  in  a  style  very  creditable  to  the  enterprising  house 
which  has  brought  it  out." 

From  the  Cincinnati  Commercial. 

"  APPLEGATE  <fe  Co.,  43  Main  street,  have  just  published, 
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APPLEGATE  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

f  _ . 

PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. 

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Works,  <fec. 

From  the  Nashville  and  Louisville  Christian  Advocate. 
"  PLUTARCH'S  LIVES. — This  great  work,  to  which  has 
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cated biography.  For  this  valuable  purpose,  we  know  of 
no  work  extant  superior  to  the  fifty  lives  of  Plutarch.  It 
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The  eminent  men  whose  lives  compose  this  work,  consti- 
tute almost  the  entire  of  that  galaxy  of  greatness  and 
brightness,  which  stretches  across  the  horizon  of  the  dis- 
tant past,  and  casts  upon  the  present  time  a  mild  and 
steady  luster.  Many  of  them  are  among  the  most  illus- 
trious of  the  earth." 


From  the  Ladies9  Repository. 

"  It  is  a  better  piece  of  property  for  a  young  man  to 
own,  than  an  eighty  acre  lot  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  or 
many  hundred  dollars  in  current  money.  We  would 
rather  leave  it  as  a  legacy  to  a  son,  had  we  to  make  the 
choice,  than  any  moderate  amount  of  property,  if  we  were 
certain  he  would  read  it ;  and,  we  are  bound  to  add,  that, 
were  we  now  going  to  purchase  a  copy,  this  edition  would 
have  the  preference  over  every  other  of  which  we  have 
any  knowledge." 


APPLEGATE  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

MOSHEIM'S  CHURCH  HISTORY, 

Ancient  and  Modern,  from  the  birth  of  Christ  to  the 
Eighteenth  Century,  in  which  the  Kise,  Progress,  and  Varia- 
tions of  Church  Power  are  considered  in  their  connection 
with  the  state  of  Learning  and  Philosophy ;  and  the  Politi- 
cal History  of  Europe  during  that  period,  continued  up  to 
the  present  time,  by  CHARLES  COOTE,  LL.  D.  806  pages, 
1  vol.,  quarto,  spring  back,  marble  edge. 

From  the  Masonic  Review. 

This  great  standard  history  of  the  Church  from  the  birth  of 
Christ,  has  just  been  issued  in  a  new  dress  by  the  extensive  pub- 
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has  become  a  standard  work,  and  no  public  or  private  library  is 
complete  without  it ;  nor  can  an  individual  be  well  posted  in  the 
history  of  the  Christian  Church  for  eighteen  hundred  years, 
without  having  carefully  studied  Mosheim,  We  wish,  however, 
particularly  to  recommend  the  present  edition.  The  pages  are 
in  large  double  columns ;  the  type  is  large  and  very  distinct,  and 
the  printing  is  admirable,  on  fine  white  paper.  It  is  really  a 
pleasure  to  read  such  print,  and  we  recommend  our  friends  to 
purchase  this  edition  of  this  indispensable  work. 


From  the  Telescope,  Dayton,  O. 

This  work  has  been  placed  upon  our  table  by  the  gentlemanly 
and  enterprising  publishers,  and  we  are  glad  of  an  opportunity 
to  introduce  so  beautiful  an  edition  of  this  standard  Church  his- 
tory to  our  readers.  The  work  is  printed  on  beautiful  white 
paper,  clear  large  type,  and  is  bound  in  one  handsome  volume.  <• 
No  man  ever  sat  down  to  read  Mosheim  in  so  pleasing  a  dress. 
What  a  treat  is  such  an  edition  to  one  who  has  been  studying 
this  elegant  work  in  small  close  print  of  other  editions. 


From  Professor  Wrightson. 

Whatever  book  has  a  tendency  to  add  to  our  knowledge  of 
God,  or  the  character  or  conduct  of  his  true  worshipers,  or  that 
points  out  the  errors  and  mistakes  of  former  generations,  must 
have  an  elevating,  expanding,  and  purifying  influence  on  the 
human  mind.  Such  a  work  is  Mosheim's  Ecclesiastical  History. 
Like  "  Rollings  History  of  the  Ancients,"  it  is  the  standard,  and 
ia  too  well  known  to  need  a  word  of  comment. 


APPLEGATE  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

GATHEEED  TREASURES  FROM  THE  MINES  OF 
LITERATURE. 

Containing  Tales,  Sketches,  Anecdotes,  and  Gems  of  Thought, 
Literary,  Moral,  Pleasing  and  Instructive.  Illustrated  with 
steel  plates.  1  vol.  octavo.  Embossed. 

To  furnish  a  volume  of  miscellaneous  literature  both  pleasing 
and  instructive,  has  been  the  object  of  the  editor  in  compiling 
this  work,  as  well  to  supply,  to  some  -extent,  at  least,  the  place 
that  is  now  occupied  by  publications  which  few  will  deny  are  of 
a  questionable  moral  tendency. 

It  has  been  the  intention  to  make  this  volume  a  suitable  travel- 
ing and  fireside  companion,  profitably  engaging  the  leisure  mo- 
ments of  the  former,  and  adding  an  additional  charm  to  the 
cheerful  glow  of  the  latter;  to  blend  amusement  with  instruc- 
tion, pleasure  with  profit,  and  to  present  an  extensive  garden  of 
Vigorous  and  useful  plants,  and  beautiful  and  fragrant  flowers, 
among  which,  perchance,  there  may  be  a  few  of  inferior  worth, 
though  none  of  utter  inutility.  While  it  is  not  exclusively  a  re- 
ligious work,  yet  it  contains  no  article  that  may  not  be  read  by 
the  most  devoted  Christian. 

From  the  Cincinnati  Daily  Times. 

This  is  certainly  a  book  of  rare  merit,  and  well  calculated  for 
a  rapid  and  general  circulation.  Its  contents  present  an  exten 
sive  variety  of  subjects,  and  these  not  only  carefully  but  judi- 
ciously selected,  and  arranged  in  appropriate  departments.  Its 
contents  have  been  highly  spoken  of  by  men  of  distinguished 
literary  acumen,  both  editors  and  ministers  of  varioua  Christian 
denominations.  We  cheerfully  recommend  it. 


GATHERED  TREASURES  FROM  THE  MINES  OF  LITERATURE. — "  One 
of  the  most  interesting  everyday  books  ever  published.  Like  the 
Spectator,  it  may  be  perused  again  and  again,  and  yet  afford 
something  to  interest  and  amuse  the  reader.  Its  varied  and  choice 
selections  of  whatever  is  beautiful  or  witty,  startling  or  amus- 
ing, can  not  fail  to  afford  rich  enjoyment  to  minds  of  every  char- 
acter, and  a  pleasant  relaxation  from  more  severe  and  vigorous 
reading."  

GATHERED  TREASURES. — "A  choice  collection  of  short  and  in- 
teresting articles,  comprising  selections  from  the  ablest  authors. 
Unlike  voluminous  works,  its  varied  selections  afford  amusement 
for  a  leisure  moment,  or  entertainment  for  a  winter  evening.  It 
is  alike  a  companion  for  the  railroad  car,  the  library  and  parlor, 
and  aever  fails  to  interest  its  reader." 


APPLEGATE  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

NOTES  ON  THE  TWENTY-FIVE  ARTICLES  OP  RE 

LIGION,  as  received  and  taught  by  Methodists  in  the 

United  States, 

In  which  the  doctrines  are  carefully  considered  and 
supported  by  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  By 
Rev.  A.  A.  JIMESON,  M.  D.  12mo,  embossed  cloth. 

Thib  book  contains  a  clear  exposition  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  Articles,  and  of  the  errors  against  which  the  Articles 
were  directed,  written  in  a  popular  style,  and  divided  into 
sections,  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  each  doctrine  and 
its  opposite  error  in  the  most  prominent  manner. 

From  Rev.  JOHN  MILLER. 

"  It  is  a  book  for  the  Methodist  and  for  the  age — a  re- 
ligious multum  in  parvo — combining  sound  theology  with 
practical  religion.  It  should  be  found  in  every  Methodist 
family/' 

From  Rev.  W.  R.  BABCOCK,  Pastor  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  St 

Louis,  Missouri. 

"From  our  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  gifted  and 
pious  Author  of  these  '  NOTES,',  we  anticipate  a  rich  intel- 
lectual feast,  and  an  able  defense  of  the  Biblical  origin  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  Articles  of  Religion,  as  contained  in 
the  Discipline  of  the  Methodist  Church." 


"  The  laymen  of  the  Methodist  Church  have  long  need- 
ed this  work.  Although  we  regard  the  Twenty-Five  Ar- 
ticles as  self-evident  truths — the  concentrated  teachings  of 
the  Holy  Bible,  and  the  bulwark  of  the  Protestant  Faith 
— they  are  not  sufficiently  understood  and  comprehended 
by  those  professing  to  believe  them.  Dr.  Jimeson  hag 
furnished  us,  in  a  condensed  form  and  popular  style,  with 
a  lucid  exposition  and  triumphant  defense  of  our  faith, 
sustained  and  supported  by  history  and  the  opinions  of 
the  Fathers,  and  adapted  to  the  present  wants  of  the 
Church." 


APPLEGATE  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 
PETERSON'S  FAMILIAR  SCIENCE; 

Or,  the  Scientific  Explanation  of  Common  Things. 

Edited  by  R.  E.  PETERSON,  Member  of  the  Academy  ot 
Natural  Sciences,  Philadelphia. 

From  T.  S.  ARTHUR,  Editor  of  the  Home  Gazette. 

"'Familiar  Science,  or  the  Scientific  Explanation  of 
Common  Things/  is  one  of  the  most  generally  useful 
books  that  has  lately  been  printed.  This  work,  or  a  por- 
tion of  it,  came  first  from  the  pen  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Brewer, 
of  Trinity  Hall,  Oxbridge  ;  but,  in  the  form  it  first  ap- 
peared from  the  English  press,  it  was  not  only  unsuited  to 
the  American  pupil,  but  very  deficient  in  arrangement. 
These  defects,  the  editor  has  sought  to  remedy.  To  give 
not  only  to  the  parent  a  ready  means  of  answering  inqui- 
ries, but  to  provide  a  good  book  for  schools,  is  the  object 
of  this  volume.  About  two  thousand  questions,  on  all 
subjects  of  general  information,  are  answered  in  language 
so  plain  that  all  may  understand  it." 


From  WM.  S.  CLAVENOKR,  Principal  of  Grammar  School,  Phila. 

"The  pages  of  *  Familiar  Science*  are  its  best  recom- 
mendation. The  common  phenomena  of  life  are  treated 
of  in  a  simple  and  intelligible  manner,  which  renders  it 
both  pleasing  and  instructive.  In  the  family  circle,  as  a 
text  book,  it  will  form  the  basis  of  an  hour's  interesting 
conversation,  and  in  the  hands  of  the  pupil,  it  will  be  a 
valuable  aid  in  the  acquisition  of  useful  knowledge." 

From  WM.  KOBERTS,  Principal  of  Ringwold  Schoolt  Philadelphia* 

"ROBERT  E.  PETERSON,  ESQ. — Dear  Sir — I  have  been 
much  gratified  by  an  examination  of  your  book,  entitled 
'  Familiar  Science.'  The  cause  of  every  day  phenomena, 
such  as  evaporation,  condensation,  the  formation  of  clouds, 
rain,  dew,  etc.,  are  so  familiarly  explained,  that  all  classes 
of  persons  may  readily  comprehend  them,  and  I  believe 
the  book  has  only  to  be  known  to  be  appreciated  by 
teachers." 


APPLEGATE  £  .CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 
TEMPERANCE  MUSICIAN. 

A  choice  selection  of  original  and  selected  Temperance  Music, 
arranged  for  one,  two,  three,  or  four  voices,  with  an  extensive 
variety  of  Popular  Temperance  Songs.  3*2mo. 

This  is  a  neat  volume,  well  primed,  and  well  bound,  containing  256  pages. 
Tt  is  the  best  collection  of  temperance  songs  and  music  we  have  seen.  Were  a 
few  copies  secured  in  every  town  in  Ohio,  in  the  hands  of  the  warm-hearted 
friends  of  the  Maine  Law,  an  element  of  power  and  interest  would  be  added  to 
temperance  meetings,  and  a  stronger  impulse  given  to  the  onward  march  of  the 
sold  water  army. — Summit,  (O.,)  Beacon. 

This  will  certainly  become  one  of  the  most  popular  temperance  song  books 
which  has  been  published  in  the  country.  We  think  it  is,  so  far  as  we  have 
examined,  the  best  collection  of  son^s  we  have  seen.  Some  of  them  are  ex- 
ceedingly beautiful  and  affecting. —  T>',nperance  Cfiart. 


This  is  a  popular  Temperance  Son;;  Book,  designed  for  the  people,  and  should 
\>e  in  every  family.  We  can  recommend  it  to  the  patronage  of  all  our  tempe- 
rance friends,  as  the  best  temperance  songster,  with  music  attached,  we  have 
seen.  The  music  in  this  work  is  set  according  to  Harrison's  Numeral  System, 
for  two  reasons:  First,  because  it  is  so  simple  and  scientific  that  all  the  people 
can  easily  learn  it.  Second,  it  is  difficult  to  set  music  in  a  book  of  this  siz« 
and  shape,  except  in  numerals. — Clevdand  Commercial. 


UNIVERSAL  MUSICIAN. 

By  A.  D.  FILLMOHE,  Author  of  Christian  Psalmist,  <fec.,  contain- 
ing all  Systems  of  Notation.  New  Edition,  enlarged. 

The  title,  "Universal  Musician/'  is  adopted  because  the  work 
is  designed  for  everybody.  The  style  of  expression  is  in  common 
plain  English,  so  that  it  may  be  adapted  to  the  capacities  of  all, 
instead  of  simply  pleasing  the  fancy  of  the  few. 

Most  of  the  music  is  written  in  Harrison's  Numeral  System  of 
Notation,  because  it  is  the  most  intelligible  of  all  the  different 
systems  extant,  and  is  therefore  better  adapted  to  the  wants  of 
community.  Music  would  be  far  better  understood  and  appre- 
ciated by  the  people  generally,  if  it  were  all  written  in  this  way. 
For  it  is  more  easily  written,  occupies  less  space,  is  more  quickly 
learned,  more  clearly  understood,  is  less  liable  to  be  forgotten, 
and  will  answer  all  common  purposes  better  than  any  other. 
But  the  world  is  full  of  music,  written  in  various  systems,  and 
the  learner  should  acquire  a  knowledge  of  all  the  principal  varie- 
ties of  notation,  so  as  to  be  able  to  read  all  music.  To  afford  this 
knowledge  to  all,  is  the  object  of  the  present  effort. 

Poetry,  which  is  calculated  to  please  as  well  as  instruct,  has 
been  carefully  selected  from  many  volumes  already  published, 
and  from  original  compositions  furnished  expressly  for  this  work, 
Much  of  the  music  is  original,  which  is  willingly  submitted  to 
the  ordeal  of  public  opinion.  Some  of  it  certainly  possesses  some 
merit,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  avidity  with  which  it  is  pil 
fered  and  offered  to  the  public  by  some,  would-be,  authors, 


APPLEGATE  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

Uni  vergalliad  ;  Or  Confessions  of  Universalism.  A  Poem  in  twelve  Can- 
tos, to  which  are  added  Lectures  on  Universal  ism,  wherein  the  system  is  ex- 
plained, and  its  chief  arguments  considered  and  refuted. 

Salvation  by  Christ.     By  Rev.  WM.  SHERLOCK. 

JKolian  Jjyrist.  By  Rev.  WM.  B.  GILLHAM,  Pastor  of  the  First  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church,  Columbia,  Tenn,  Figured  Notes,  250  pages. 

American  Church  Harp.  A  Choice  Collection  of  Hymns  and  Tunes 
adapted  to  all  Christian  Churches,  Singing  Schools,  and  Private  Families. 
By  Rev.  W.  RHINEHART.  12mo.,  half  morocco. 

The  Camp  Meeting  and  Sabbath  School  Chorister.  By 
AARON  Cox. 

Sacred  Meloneon,  A  Collection  of  Revival  Hymns.    By  Rev.  R.  M.  DALEY. 

A  Biographical  Sketch  of  Colonel  1>aiiicl  Itooiie,  the  First 
Settler  in  Kentucky,  interspersed  with  incidents  in  the  early  annals  of  the 
country.  By  TIMOTHY  FLINT.  12mo.  Embossed  cloth. 

Ufeof  Teciimseh,  and  of  his  Brother  the  Prophet,  with  a  Historical  Sketch 
of  the  Shawnee  Indians.  By  B.  DRAKE.  12mo.,  embossed  cloth. 

JLife  and  Adventures  of  Black  Hawk,  with  Sketches  of  Keokuk, 
the  Sac  and  Fox  Indians,  and  the  Black  Hawk  War.  By  B.  DRAKE,  likno., 
embossed  cloth. 

Western  Adventure.     ByM'CLUNa.    Illustrated. 

ILiewis  &  Clarke's  Journal  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Illus- 
trated. 12mo.,  sheep. 

dife  and  Essays  of  Ben.  Franklin.    ISino.,  cloth. 

Itledical  Student  in  Europe,  Or  Notes  on  France,  England,  Italy, 
&c.  Illustrated  with  steel  plates. 

The  Poor  ITIan's  Home,  Or  Rich  Man's  Palace;  Or  Gravel  Wall  Build- 
ings. This  is  one  of  the  most  desirable  books  published,  for  all  who  contem- 
plate erecting  dwellings  or  out-houses,  as  the  cost  is  not  over  one  third  that 
of  brick  or  frame,  and  quite  as  durable.  Illustrated  with  numerous  plans 
and  a  cut  of  the  author's  residence,  with  full  directions,  that  every  man  may 
be  his  own  builder. 

JLectures  and  Sermons.  By  Rev.  F.  G.  BLACK,  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church.  12mo.,  embossed  cloth. 

A  New  History  of  Texas,  from  the  first  European  Settlements,  in 
1682,  down  to  the  present  time — including  an  account  of  the  Mexican  War, 
together  with  the  Treaty.  Paper. 

9Iap  of  the  Western  Rivers.  By  S.  B.  MUNSON.  Being  a  map  of  the 
navigable  parts  of  the  Missouri,  Mississippi,  Ohio,  Illinois,  Cumberland,  and 
Wabash  Rivers,  with  a  Table  of  Distances. 

A  New  History  of  Oregon  and  California.  By  LANSFORD  W. 
HASTINGS.  Paper. 

Parley's  America,  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  Islands,  Tales  of  the  Sea,  Greece, 
Rome,  Winter  Evening  Tales,  Juvenile  Tales,  Bible  Stories,  Anecdotes,  Sun, 
Moon,  and  Stars  :  new  and  revised  editions. 

Parley's  Right  is  Might,  Dick  Boldhero,  The  Truth  Finder,  Philip  Brusque, 
Tales  of  Sea  and  Land,  Tales  of  the  Revolution^ 

Uradley's  Housekeeper's  Guide  and  Cook  Book;  Or  a  plain 
and  economical  Cook  Hook,  containing  a  great  variety  of  new,  valuable,  and 
approved  receipts!  12mo'.,  clothi 

Lyons'  English  Grammar.  A  new  Grammar  of  the  English  Lan- 
guage, familiarly  explained,  and  adapted  to  the  use  of  Schools  and  Private 
"Students.  The  work  is  so  arranged  as  to  infallibly  secure  the  attention,  to 
awaken  inquiry,  and  to  leave  the  most  lasting  impressions  upon  the  mind 
of  the  learner.  12mo.,  cloth. 

Cemmoii  School  Primer. 


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'*  -   •  :*-'^  ;:.   i+* 


. 


